Liverpool supporters will know the feeling all too well.
January comes and the Africa Cup of Nations hits, and Liverpool, in recent years, have been stripped of their stars for the overly congested month that January has become in recent times.
The Reds currently, have three African internationals amongst their ranks; Sadio Mane, Mohamed Salah and Naby Keita, all of who have qualified for the 2022 edition of the Africa Cup of Nations, which runs from January 9th - February 6th.
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The tournament has often presented Premier League clubs with selection headaches, something Chelsea, Liverpool and Manchester City have all become accustomed to.
And after the 2019 edition of the tournament was rescheduled into the summer months, meaning that Premier League clubs were handed a boost. One that certainly benefited the Reds in January 2019 as Salah and Mane played a crucial part in Jurgen Klopp's side accumulating 18 points from the 24 on offer in both months.
However, in January 2020 it was announced that the tournament which will be hosted in Cameroon had been shifted due to "meteorological reasons at the request of Cameroon".
Subsequently meaning that Klopp will be without his African trio for the Premier League fixtures against Brentford and Crystal Palace. However, due to the recently introduced winter break in the Premier League, unless any of the trio make the final, or even the latter stages of the tournament, then they should be back in time for Leicester's visit to Anfield on February 9th.
Nevertheless, with the competition at the top end of the Premier League leading many to believe that the title could be decided on the smallest of margins, Liverpool cannot afford to drop points in any of the games in the absence of the trio.
And as a result of the club's decision not to add another forward option to their ranks during the summer window, Liverpool will have nine days at the start of the window January window to recruit a suitable enough replacement.
Meaning that they could follow the blueprint for Fabinho's deal which saw him, swiftly and secretly, agree on a move to Anfield less than 48-hours after Real Madrid had defeated Klopp's men in the 2018 Champions League final.
However, Divock Origi and Takumi Minamino will have auditions between now and the end of December to prove to Klopp and his team that they are worthy enough deputies.
Both have failed to make an impact at Anfield in recent seasons, with Origi only managing to register seven goals since his heroics against Tottenham and Barcelona in the penultimate weeks of the 2018/2019 season.
Minamino on the other hand has shown glimpses of what could be at Anfield. But performances like his in the 7-0 thrashing of Crystal Palace last December have come few and far between
As it stands, Klopp could be left with just Diogo Jota and Roberto Firmino as his only suitable No.9 options. However, the emergence of Kaide Gordon, Harvey Elliott and Curtis Jones in recent seasons could present the German with further in-house options, with all of them being experienced in playing out wide at some point during the early stages of their careers.
Nevertheless, Klopp has plenty of fixtures to experiment with his in-house rotation before the January transfer window opens, given that it is a dilemma he has already faced once during his time at Anfield.
In January 2017, Liverpool found themselves firmly on Chelsea's tail as Klopp looked to push the Londoners all the way during his first full season at Anfield. However, Mane's goal against Sunderland on January 2nd would be his final appearance for the Reds until the end of the month as he jetted off to strengthen Senegal's bid to be crowned champions of the continent.
Mane and co reached the quarter-finals of the competition where they would eventually be defeated by Cameroon 5-4 on penalties. However, positively for Liverpool, Mane would make the bench for the tie against Chelsea on January 31st, which finished all even.
Despite a positive result on the night against the runaway leaders Chelsea, Klopp's side failed to claw back some of the ground they had lost on Antione Conte's side during Mane's absence. Although the return of the Senegalese star would have been earlier than anticipated, Mane returned to Merseyside to find his teammates slumped fourth in the table, ten points behind Chelsea, having picked up two points from a possible nine during his time away.
Something Klopp certainly does not want a repeat of this time around.
