The Elephants of Cote d'Ivoire will be hoping to go into Saturday’s encounter without their formidable metronome; Yaya Toure in their 10-match ascent to the pinnacle of African football once more.

The Africa Cup of Nations title-holders have a Group I date with fellow-west Africans Sierra Leone in a fixture switched from Freetown to Nigerian city, Port Harcourt because of the Ebola epidemic.

It will be the first of four qualifying games for the 'Elephants' as they seek to top the table and secure a place at the 2017 tournament in Gabon.

Cote d'Ivoire had a matchday 1 bye last June in a three-team mini-league completed by Sudan.

New France-born Cote d'Ivoire coach Michel Dussuyer must do without Manchester City stars Toure and Wilfried Bony plus Newcastle United midfield enforcer Cheick Tiote.

National team captain Toure, voted African Footballer of the Year a record four consecutive times since 2011, asked to be excluded while he considers his international future.

Now 32, the midfielder who specialises in turning edge-of-the-box free-kicks into goals suffered a dip in form when he returned last February from the triumphant 2015 Africa Cup of Nations Cup campaign in Equatorial Guinea.

Dussuyer, a former goalkeeper who guided Guinea to the Cup of Nations quarter-finals this year before quitting, hopes Toure is taking only a temporary break.

"I met Yaya in London and said I was counting on him to continue," said the successor to compatriot Herve Renard.

"He is a great footballer and I hope he is going to resume his adventure with the 'Elephants'."

Burly striker Bony is injured and Dussuyer says Tiote did not respond after various attempts were made to contact him.

The Cote d'Ivoire coach will be pleased by the recent UEFA Champions League form of Seydou Doumbia with CSKA Moscow. On loan to his former club from Roma, the striker scored twice during a dramatic play-off triumph over Sporting Lisbon that secured a group place.

Ghana-born Sierra Leone caretaker coach Sellas Tetteh does not believe the absence of Toure will weaken the two-time African champions.

"The absence of Yaya will not make our task easier," said the coach who guided Ghana to 2009 world youth championship glory and had a short spell in charge of Rwanda.

"I recently inherited a Sierra Leone squad with low morale after several losses. My immediate task is to restore confidence and end the run of defeats."

Cote d'Ivoire defeated Sierra Leone 2-1 and 5-1 in 2015 Cup of Nations qualifiers with both matches staged in Abidjan because of the Ebola virus.