African players to watch this weekend

Aside from Riyad Mahrez, whose Manchester City side test their recent improvement against Manchester United, which other stars from the continent are set to feature across the top five leagues this weekend?

Edouard Mendy

Hakim Ziyech’s injury leaves Mendy as the only African star to take to the pitch for Chelsea when they face Everton at Goodison Park on Saturday night.

The Senegal stopper recovered well from early indecision against Leeds United to put in an acceptable performance but the Blues shot-stopper will face another test against the Toffees’ frontline.

Carlo Ancelotti’s side have been in underwhelming form, winning just one in seven games, but will hope their returning fans will them on to success against the improving title contenders.

Riyad Mahrez

Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City side will have their recent upturn in form examined at Old Trafford when they face Manchester United.

Mahrez has played a role in the drastic change for the Cityzens, with very good showings against Burnley and Fulham last time out.

United inconsistency makes this a hard game to call; however, the fact their counter-attacking approach is City’s kryptonite means the Red Devils could continue their recent good run against their city rivals, over whom they did the double last season.

Karl Toko Ekambi

Olympique Lyon’s rise into possible title contention will be put to the test when Rudi Garcia’s men face Ligue 1 favourites Paris Saint-Germain at Parc des Princes.

The Cameroon forward has been in amazing form for Lyon this year, scoring seven times in 11 games, and was in fine form when they beat Metz 3-1 last week.

PSG have had a difficult season with players either missing through injury or Covid-19, which has already seen them lose three times this season.

This has given other sides hope of being the first side since Monaco to knock the Parisians of their perch, a desire Toko Ekambi, Tino Kadewere and Maxwel Cornet would look to show in Paris on Sunday night.

Franck Kessie

The Ivorian star has been vital to AC Milan in Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s absence, with three goal contributions in wins over Fiorentina and Sampdoria aiding the Rossoneri’s 10-game unbeaten run at the start of Serie A.

Kessie ought to feature against Parma in gameweek 11 as Stefano Pioli’s side look to extend their current run of wins to four games.

The visitors haven’t pulled up trees on their travels this season, losing three and drawing one in five away games, although that stalemate came at San Siro against Inter Milan.

Still, it’ll be odd not to back Kessie and his teammates to inflict Parma’s fourth defeat on the road on Sunday.

Achraf Hakimi

Hakimi and his teammates’ season suffered a huge setback during the week following elimination from Europe for the season.

With the pressure now on Antonio Conte to win Serie A, the Nerazzurri would look to respond to their continental embarrassment in midweek when they travel to mid-table Cagliari on Sunday.

While the midweek ignominy will dominate headlines for a while — and rightly so — Inter had started to perform better domestically before Wednesday and are favourites against Eusebio Di Francesco’s team in the 11th round of games.