Ghana aim to steal top spot from Kenya

Ghana will host Kenya in a battle for top spot in 2019 Africa Cup of Nations qualifying group F at Accra Sports Stadium in Accra on Saturday evening.

Kick-off is at 08:00pm CAT.

The two nations have already booked their place at this year's showpiece set to be hosted in Egypt, in a qualifying campaign that included the disqualification of Sierra Leone back in November.

Kenya sit atop the group standings heading into this weekend's round of fixtures, having accumulated seven points from three matches. Ghana sit a point behind the Harambee Stars and five ahead of Ethiopia, who were effectively eliminated from Afcon contention following a 2-0 defeat to the West Africans late last year.

Jordan Ayew, who missed the country's reverse fixture away to Kenya, scored the decisive brace in Adidas Ababa as the Black Stars booked their ticket to an eighth Afcon tournament in succession.

Kenya will return to the Cup of Nations for the first time since featuring at the 2004 tournament hosted in Tunisia. The East African nation will participate in their sixth Afcon tournament later this year.

The Harambee Stars beat their counterparts 1-0 in Nairobi in the reverse fixture last September, thanks to an own goal from Nicholas Opoku in the first half of the match.

Kenya will be without Zesco United forward Jesse Were for the clash. The Zambia-based striker was left out of the final 22-man squad despite being named as a late replacement in place of the injured Michael Olunga.

The Ghanaian team is dominated by European-based players, including brothers Jordan and Andre Ayew who both played no part in Nairobi.

Ghana, who are four-time champions of Africa's premier cup competition, have finished within the top four at six consecutive Afcon tournaments.