West Ham lose song to January AFCON

West Ham are preparing for January without talisman Alex Song after Cameroon made a U-turn and have belatedly called him up to their side for the Africa Cup of Nations.

Their midfield lynchpin was not included in Cameroon manager Volker Finke's initial squad for the tournament, which was announced last month.

He had fallen out of favour with their national team following his sending off in the World Cup against Croatia and has not played since.

But the player has been one of the top midfielders in the Premier League this season and Finke is understood to have changed his mind, leading West Ham boss Sam Allardyce to plan without him for the duration of the tournament.

It will come as a huge blow to the east London club as they prepare to chase a place in Europe, currently occupying seventh in the table, just four points away from Southampton in fourth.

They are also losing Cheikhou Kouyate to Senegal and he could also be joined by top-scorer Diafra Sakho who is suffering from a back problem, so will either be out injured or away with the national team.

Song has been the driving force in West Ham's midfield since his loan move from Barcelona and Allardyce is eager to keep him at the club beyond the summer.

West Ham's strong form in the first half of the season, which put them as high as third, is beginning to slide.

In their last three games during the festive period they were beaten in their two toughest fixtures against Chelsea and Arsenal and could only draw against West Brom, which has seen them drop down the table.

Losing Song will make the challenge of halting that fall even harder.