The big question: African Cup of Nations?

It never fails.

Whenever the African Cup of Nations rolls around, English soccer fans throw a tizzy fit over their team having to release its top stars.

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This year’s tournament runs from Jan. 21 to Feb. 12 in Gabon and Equatorial Guinea -- which means when you take into consideration the pre-tournament training camp, Premiership sides could go without some of their best players for up to a month.

This year, there are four teams that will really feel the pinch.

Manchester City will be without the services of influential midfielder Yaya Toure (and his brother Kolo), who will be playing for Ivory Coast.

Yaya is the engine room that drives the City midfield, so it’ll be interesting to see how the Blues manage without him while Manchester United is hot on their tail.

Newcastle United will also be affected, as they will be without Senegalese forward Demba Ba, who ranks second in league scoring with 17 goals this season.

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Sunday Programming Alert: Manchester City v Tottenhamlive at 7:30am ET on Sportsnet World, and Arsenal v Manchester Utd live at 11am ET on Sportsnet World.

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Chelsea will be without two of its key players in Didier Drogba and Salomon Kalou (Ivory Coast), while Arsenal will be without forwards Gervinho (Ivory Coast) and Marouane Chamakh (Morocco).

It raises the big question: Which BPL team do you think will most be negatively affected by the African Cup of Nations?

We want to know what Sportsnet.ca readers think. So vote in our online poll and post your comments below.