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Nigerian trio Bassey, Alex Iwobi and Samuel Chukwueze will be departing for the Africa Cup of Nations after today’s Premier League clash with Burnley at Turf Moor.
Iwobi is poised to continue in centre-midfield alongside ex-Burnley man Sander Berge, while Chukwueze will hope to retain his spot on the left flank in today’s tie.
Fulham will have to cope without at least two players for the tie as Head coach Marco Silva has confirmed that Ryan Sessegnon will not recover in time from a minor thigh injury to feature this weekend and will remain in the treatment room with Rodrigo Muniz (thigh).
A start for Robinson is not on the cards, though, so Timothy Castagne is set to continue at left-back, joining Calvin Bassey, Joachim Andersen and Kenny Tete in a four-man defence in front of goalkeeper Bernd Leno.
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The trio are scheduled to arrive at a training camp in Egypt on or before Monday , 15 th December. The team is expected to play a couple of friendly matches, one against Egypt before the tournament begins on Sunday, 21st December. Nigeria is in Group C of the tournament alongside Tanzania, Tunisia and Uganda.
Speaking on Thursday, Silva made no attempt to hide the challenge ahead, though he stressed the club had prepared for this outcome.
“We knew it was going to happen. We will not panic about its impact,” Silva said.
“We are talking about three starting XI players. We know Alex is a key player in any position he plays. The importance of Calvin, and what Chukwueze has been doing in recent games. You have to find solutions. If you know any other way to handle it [AFCON], let me know.”
