No positive Covid tests for Roy’s boys

CRYSTAL Palace recorded no positive tests in the aftermath of the Eagles’ 2-0 defeat against Newcastle United but Roy Hodgson has revealed the club had to change their way of working before getting those Covid-19 test results back.

Newcastle were already without three individuals, including a firstteamer who would have played, for the trip to Selhurst Park last week and the number of infections in the camp has since risen further.

The Magpies have temporarily closed their traning ground and, with the players unable to train together, their trip to Aston Villa last night was postponed.

Ahead of Palace’s trip to West Brom, Hodgson was asked if there was any concern within the camp after Newcastle had so many infections after defeating his side.

He said: “Our doctor did exceptionally well as did our team liaison Danny Young.

“They did ever so well when we realised there were going to be difficulties with the outbreak.

“They worked very hard to make certain players come in their own cars, changed and sat in their cars.

“We did not have the usual breakfast and lunching facilities. We just went straight from the car – the players were ready to train.

“The players go on to the training field and then directly from the training field back into the car.

“Luckily we had our tests and the tests all proved negative.

“So we can get back to our normal way of working but we certainly made a lot of effort to take all the right precautions.”