Ghana’s deputy captain Andre 'Dede' Ayew has called on his Black stars teammates to keep their heads up as the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations beckon.

The 27-year-old admitted that this edition is likely to be "one of the toughest" in the history of the tournament.

Ghana missed out on the trophy in 2015 after suffering a painful defeat to Ivory Coast in the finals through the penalty shoot outs.

"We are in a difficult group and to be honest we are among the two favourites in the tournament," Ayew said.

"I think every tournament becomes harder and harder. "We can see that all the teams are becoming stronger, so we need to keep our heads high and be confident and go and do our job."

The Black Stars are looking for their fifth Nations Cup, but they have not won a title since 1982.

Since then they have finished runners-up on three occasions in 1992, 2010 and last time out in 2015 when they lost on penalties to Ivory Coast.

This time around, they will play in Group D alongside Uganda, seven-time champions Egypt and the 1972 runners-up Mali.