City accept doping charge and face fine

MANCHESTER CITY will be fined after accepting an FA charge for breaching anti-doping regulations.

An independent regulatory commission is expected to sit within the next two weeks to decide on City’s punishment. A £25,000 fine was set as a guideline for breaking the ‘whereabouts rule’ in 2011, although the commission has the power to set its own figure.

The rule requires clubs to let the FA know about the location of teams and training times so that anti-doping officials can turn up to carry out random tests.

City accept that they failed to provide accurate information on three occasions in a 12-month period.

Meanwhile, Pep Guardiola’s side face Crystal Palace in the fourth round of the FA Cup at Selhurst Park today with captain Vincent Kompany in contention for a first outing since suffering an injury on the same ground three months ago. Kompany damaged knee ligaments in a collision with City keeper Claudio Bravo in November, the latest in a long list of injuries.

‘He is fit, that’s the most important thing,’ said Guardiola. ‘He’s been training for a long time and he feels good. He hasn’t been injured at all in the last month. Sooner or later, we have to take a risk.

‘We will have to evaluate his physical condition but he has a lot of experience and he is going to handle that as best as possible.’

Testing himself against Sam Allardyce was one of the challenges Guardiola mentioned when he arrived in England. The Spaniard duly promised a warm welcome.

‘Tomorrow I will give Big Sam a big hug. It’s a final for both of us. After that he is going to fight to win and I am going to fight to win.’