West Brom are already planning for the setback which is coming their way

West Bromwich Albion are already well aware that they’ll likely be planning for a winter without two of their key players if – as expected – Semi Ajayi and Grady Diangana are selected to represent their respective countries at the Africa Cup of Nations in the Ivory Coast.

AFCON 2023, which actually takes place in 2024, will be span two months from January 13 until February 11. Both Ajayi’s Nigeria and Diangana’s DR Congo have qualified comfortably – the former won Group A in the qualification process and the latter finished top of Group I.

Ajayi is away with the Super Eagles during this international break. They play Lesotho and Zimbabwe in their first World Cup 2026 qualifiers, while Diangana’s DR Congo are in action against Mauritania and Sudan. It’ll be the final time those squads meet up and play with each other before they unite for AFCON in the New Year.

Form and fitness permitting – Albion have a jam packed – the pair will make for the African continent in early January, based on their recent series of call-ups at the beginning of this season. In the extreme scenario that DR Congo v Nigeria was the AFCON final, Albion could be without both players for as many as half a dozen games.

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Nigeria schedule

They’re in Group A with hosts Ivory Coast, Equatorial Guinea and Guinea-Bissau – both Nigeria and Guinea-Bissau were the top ranked nations in their respective drawn pots, but Nigeria are the highest seeded country in the group and will expect to progress. They play Equatorial Guinea on January 14, Ivory Coast on the 18th and then Guinea-Bissau on the 22nd.

DR Congo schedule

Diangana’s nation have been placed in a group with Morocco – who impressed at the Qatar World Cup – Tanzania and Zambia. The former are the highest world ranked African team (13th) but Tanzania (122nd) are the lowest. DR Congo (64th) were in the same pot as Nigeria and like the Super Eagles will also back themselves to reach the knock-out stages.

They’re in Group F, the last group to get underway, and play Zambia on January 17, take on Morocco on the 21st and conclude their group stage against Tanzania on the 24th.

West Brom’s fixture list

Albion play seven matches in December and a couple towards the end of this month. They travel to Swansea City on New Year’s Day and on the weekend of January 6/7 they’ll play in the third round of the FA Cup against an as of yet unconfirmed opponent. It remains to be seen whether Diangana and Ajayi will be available, or whether they’ll have headed out to the Ivory Coast by then.

Albion will play, on the basis that the pair are called up, without Diangana and Ajayi against…

• Blackburn Rovers (H) – January 13
• Norwich City (A) – January 20
• Plymouth Argyle (A) – January 27*
• Birmingham City (H) – February 3
• Ipswich Town (A) – February 10

Albion then host Cardiff City at The Hawthorns on Tuesday, February 14, by which time the pair are likely to be available again – unless injured or either nation have reached the closing stages of the tournament.

*Albion are, as of this moment, due to travel to Plymouth on January 27, but that’ll be the weekend of the fourth round of the FA Cup and either or both sides may still be in the competition, in which case this fixture will be postponed and rescheduled.

Albion’s solution

Carlos Corberan has spoken previously of his plan to count on Caleb Taylor, if required, during the period that Ajayi is away. Ajayi has been a regular in the Nigeria starting XI in recent months and will expect to be prominently involved, and while Corberan has Kyle Bartley, Cedric Kipre and Erik Pieters among his centre half options, Taylor has been retained this season so that he can be ready to fill the void if needed.

« One of the reasons Caleb is here is exactly for this, I want to make him ready. We know that Ajayi, if as normal, will go with the national team in January, » Corberan told BirminghamLive previously. « He has been an important player for Nigeria so he will have possibilities. In football we cannot think about January, but I want to have the players ready, with the ideas, with the training, everything.

« Caleb is here so that when the moment arrives he is ready. That can be with Ajayi here or without him because he is with Nigeria, we can not know yet. He could be here because of injury, or bad performances…or excellent performances from him [means he goes]. I think right now we have a very good squad, without the positions of the striker, but we can always find solutions in the team. »

How many points do you think Albion will collect in December?