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Football

11th Jan 2021

Crystal Palace issue statement on Eberechi Eze’s visit to watch former club

Simon Lloyd

The matter is being dealt with internally

Crystal Palace have said they will be speaking to Eberechi Eze after he was pictured attending QPR’s FA Cup game with Fulham at the weekend.

The midfielder left Loftus Road to join Palace last summer, but was pictured in the directors’ box for Saturday’s game. The Premier League side had not given Eze permission to attend the game and have expressed their concern that he was also seen not wearing a mask at certain moments in the game.

A brief statement from Palace explained that QPR had admitted it was a mistake to host their former player, with Eze also acknowledging it had been ‘an error of judgement’ to attend the game.

Some reports suggested afterwards that QPR and the player could face sanctions from the FA.

‘QPR have acknowledged they made a mistake in hosting Eberechi Eze in the directors’ box at Saturday’s FA Cup match against Fulham without our knowledge,’ Palace’s statement said. ‘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.’

The Premier League had written to all clubs at the end of last week to remind them to reinforce existing Covid-19 protocols following the nationwide surge in new cases.