2027 AFCON Qualifiers: Key absentees are bigger blow than Ghana's - The Gambia assistant coach Abdul Jammeh

The Gambia assistant coach Abdul Jammeh says the Scorpions will be without five key players when they face Ghana in their 2027 Africa Cup of Nations qualifier on Tuesday.

The Scorpions travel to the Accra Sports Stadium for Matchday 2 of the qualifying campaign, with both sides looking to strengthen their position in Group C.

Jammeh says The Gambia's absentees represent a significant loss to the squad and believes their impact outweighs that of Ghana's unavailable players.

The assistant coach claims the five missing Gambian players have scored a combined 24 goals for the national team in recent months.

“We have missed five players who have scored 24 goals for us over the past few months. Our absentees are more important than the Black Stars players who are missing,” Jammeh told the media on Monday.

Ghana will also be without several important players for the encounter.

Jordan Ayew, vice-captains Alexander Djiku and Thomas Partey, as well as forwards Mohammed Kudus and Antoine Semenyo, have all been ruled out.

The Black Stars are under pressure after beginning their qualifying campaign with a 2-0 defeat by Côte d’Ivoire in Bouaké last Thursday.

The result left Carlos Queiroz's side bottom of Group C without a point, while The Gambia opened their campaign with a 2-1 victory over Somalia.

The Scorpions therefore arrive in Accra with three points already secured and will be looking to build on that result.

Ghana, meanwhile, need a positive result at the Accra Sports Stadium to get their qualification campaign back on track and avoid further pressure in the group.

The match kicks off at 16:00 GMT on Tuesday.