Crystal Palace are furious with Queens Park Rangers for allowing Eberechi Eze to attend their FA Cup tie against Fulham on Saturday.
Eze, who signed for Palace from QPR for £20million last summer, requested a seat in the directors' box at his former club without informing Palace. The request was approved by the Championship club without consultation with the south Londoners, who would have blocked the trip. QPR boss Mark Warburton has since admitted it was a mistake to allow Eze to attend.
The Eagles have already had to deal with captain Luka Milivojevic breaching London restrictions to spend New Year's Eve with Serbia team-mate Aleksandar Mitrovic, whose own club Fulham were suffering a major outbreak of coronavirus at the time. Milivojevic apologised but manager Roy Hodgson warned any further breaches would be firmly dealt with.
Under current restrictions, only travel for work is permitted and people must follow the government's Stay At Home message. The breach comes just days after the Premier League wrote to all its clubs reminding them of their responsibility to follow guidelines, which have been tightened in a bid to prevent football again being put on hold.
Eze was pictured in the stands at the Kiyan Prince Foundation Stadium, sat with just one seat separating him from the nearest person and not wearing a mask. Crystal Palace have also raised concerns about the policing of the directors box by staff at QPR.
The Eagles have spoken to the 22-year-old about his lapses in terms of social distancing and say the matter will be dealt with internally.
In a statement, Palace added: “QPR have acknowledged they made a mistake in hosting Eberchi Eze in the directors’ box at Saturday’s FA Cup match against Fulham without our knowledge.
"Whilst we recognise Eberechi’s desire to support his former team mates, he accepts it was an error of judgement to attend the match. We were also concerned to see pictures of Eberechi not wearing a mask at certain moments and are speaking to him about these apparent lapses, which will be dealt with internally."
