EPL roiled by virus rule breaches

SOCCER

MANCHESTER City expressed disappointment yesterday that defender Benjamin Mendy became the latest partying English Premier League player to breach coronavirus rules by hosting friends at his house on New Year’s Eve.

Mendy’s rule-breaking took place as City was already dealing with the impact of a coronavirus outbreak at the club that led to the postponement of last Monday’s match at Everton and has forced six players into self-isolation, with defender Eric Garcia’s positive test announced yesterday.

Mendy allowed a chef and two friends of his partner to attend his home, a representative for the player was cited as telling “The Sun” newspaper. People from different households are banned from mixing indoors in the northern English area where Mendy lives.

“The club is aware of a New Year’s Eve COVID-19 breach involving Benjamin Mendy and the subsequent media reporting of it,” City said.

“While it is understood that elements of this incident have been misinterpreted in the reports, and that the player has publicly apologized for his error, the club is disappointed to learn of the transgression and will be conducting an internal investigation.”

A statement from Mendy’s representative to “The Sun” expressed regret on behalf of the Frenchman.

“Ben accepts that this is a breach of COVID-19 protocols and is sorry for his actions in this matter,” it said.

Mendy, 26, has tweeted urging people “to take care of you and yours” as midnight approached on Thursday night.

On Saturday, a social media image was published of Tottenham Hotspur trio Erik Lamela, Sergio Reguilon and Giovani Lo Celso attending a large house party in London over the Christmas period in clear breach of the regulations.

A Tottenham “strongly condemned” the actions of the players, who could now face internal disciplinary action.

West Ham United’s Manuel Lanzini was also in attendance at the same party. He issued an apology on social media for his “bad mistake” while the club said the matter had been dealt with internally.

Meanwhile Fulham, whose match at Burnley yesterday was postponed due to positive cases at the club, is investigating pictures that emerged on social media on Friday showing Aleksandar Mitrovic and his fellow Serb Luka Milivojevic of Crystal Palace, along with their two families on December 31.

Palace manager Roy Hodgson expressed disappointment in his captain but said he would not be stripped of the armband. Milivojevic played in Palace’s 2-0 win over Sheffield United on Saturday after testing negative for the coronavirus.

“I know about it and obviously we condemn it,” Hodgson said after the game. “We’re upset, it doesn’t do the image of the club or Luka any good ... We know he didn’t put the other team at risk because he’s been cleared by the EPL to play.

“This is a breach of government guidelines, which we didn’t want to happen, But for that to impact on him playing and the captaincy? No.”