Arsene Wenger insists that Chelsea and not Arsenal will be the hardest hit by the African Cup of Nations.
Arsenal lose Emmanuel Eboue, Kolo Toure and Alex Song to the tournament which kicks-off later this month, whilst Chelsea will be missing Didier Drogba, Mikel John Obi, Salomon Kalou and Michael Essien.
And Wenger says The Blues will feel the impact most of all.
"I believe it will be Chelsea who suffers the most, though on the other had they can buy more can anyone else to correct that," said the Arsenal manager.
"But losing Mikel, Essien, Drogba and Kalou, that's four main players. Nobody loses that many.
"We are just behind Chelsea and Portsmouth also - but I won't use it as an excuse if we don't win the title because I have known who we will lose since the start of the season.
"If they were injured, I wouldn't complain."
Transfers
Despite losing players - Wenger says it does not put him signing African players in the future.
"When you do buy them, you have to consider how many to go for. If you lose four or five games at that time, you can't win the championship so you have to consider the balance," he said.
"You can afford to lose two maybe, but not five. It's certainly a problem you have to consider."
