The African Cup of Nations always provides a headache for Premier League managers, but the 2017 edition is being relatively kind to some.
Claudio Ranieri must have been beaming with delight on Monday as he saw pre-tournament favourites Algeria knocked out in the group stages.
After all, two of his key men - Riyad Mahrez and Islam Slimani - will now be flying back to Leicester much sooner than expected.
And while Algeria failed to impress, his players held their own; Mahrez scoring a brace in the 2-2 draw with Zimbabwe, Slimani doing the same in the 2-2 draw with Senegal.
Nice to have your players returning in a bit of form.
Mahrez Goal ✅
Slimani Assist ✅ #slimani #mahrez #afcon pic.twitter.com/mjuZTSYKdR— Foxes News (@LatestFoxes) January 15, 2017
Last night, reigning champions Ivory Coast were dumped out after a 1-0 defeat to Morocco, meaning Jose Mourinho gets to see Eric Bailly in a red shirt a fortnight earlier than he'd bargained for.
United's official Twitter account did their best to hide their delight when extending their sympathy to the centre back. They were fooling nobody though.
Commiserations to Eric Bailly, whose Ivory Coast side have been knocked out of the Africa Cup of Nations following a 1-0 defeat to Morocco. pic.twitter.com/NWxs1v0h7Y
— Manchester United (@ManUtd) January 24, 2017
The Ivory Coast's elimination will have plenty of other managers secretly delighted.
Lamine Kone hasn't set the world alight for Sunderland this season, but I'm sure David Moyes would rather have him back in the north-east, rather than away on international duty.
Moyes also has Didier Ndong back to bolster midfield. He was part of the host nation Gabon, who drew their way to an uninspiring third place in group A.
Sam Allardyce's quest for a first Premier League win at Crystal Palace will be helped by Wilfried Zaha returning to Selhurst Park, while Wilfried Bony and Max Gradel will head back to Stoke and Bournemouth respectively. Both players have been back-up options at their clubs this season, but it's always nice to have some choice.
One man who isn't smiling though is Jurgen Klopp.
With Algeria and the Ivory Coast now out, it leaves Senegal as the new tournament favourites, and potentially another couple of weeks without Sadio Mane.
Liverpool aren't the only Premier League team keeping an eye on Senegal though, with Everton's Idrissa Gueye, Mame Biram Diouf of Stoke and West Ham's Cheikhou Kouyaté all part of their squad.
But for the Irish fans, there's only one team to follow for the remainder of the tournament, and that's the Democratic Republic of Congo.
And it's for one simple reason: That glorious O'Neills jersey. Just look at it. Beautiful.
