Hodgson: ‘As far as I am concerned Luka must take full responsibility’

manager

Roy Hodgson

believes letting

Luka Milivojevic

in the 2-0 win against

was a good decision despite Milivojevic breaching Government guidelines.

Pictures of Luka Milivojevic and Fulham forward

Aleksandar Mitrovic

and their families together emerged on social media on December 31 and it was against the Government guidelines as household mixing was not allowed.

“In that respect, we weren’t concerned about breaching any Premier League protocols and therefore I think it was correct Luka played the game,” Hodgson said.

“It was a question of him in his household having his fellow Serb Mitrovic round to join them, so that is a clear breach of coronavirus rules.

“We condemn it, we certainly apologize for it and I am sure Luka will as well. As far as I am concerned he must take full responsibility for that.

“It is an internal matter that we will deal with but as far as I am concerned there is nothing positive I can say on the matter.”

In the meantime, Fulham stated:

“Following reports regarding Aleksandar Mitrovic breaking Tier 4 restrictions and Fulham Covid protocols, the club is looking into the matter fully as it takes a breach of the rules extremely seriously. The player is aware of the club’s disappointment and of the standards that are expected of him. The matter will now be dealt with internally.”

It was Crystal Palace’s first win since December 6 after their losses to Liverpool and Aston Villa.

Jeffrey Schlupp scored the opener in the fourth minute but he had to be replaced by Ebere Eze as he was suffering from a hamstring injury.

Eze also was able to score another goal in the 45th minute and helped his side to win 2-0.

“I have seen some very good goals recently but they have been against us so that has been the problem,” Hodgson added.

“It was nice to see one for us for a change because a lot of the goals we have conceded, in particular against West Ham and Liverpool, were incredible finishes.”

Sheffield United’s loss was another record for the Blades as it was the longest winless start to a

season. They broke QPR’s record which was 16 games at the start of the 2012-13 campaign.

Sheffield United manager

Chris Wilder

was frustrated by Eze’s goal given only five minutes of stoppage time was added on at the end of the first half.

“I am listening to the fourth official counting down when the ball was on the far side, counting down from 20 to 10 and that’s it,” Wilder said.

“He said ‘that’s it’ about five times. When it went back to the center-half, it was ‘that’s it’ and as it worked its way into the middle of the park it was ‘that’s it, that’s it’.

“For me, he [Stuart Attwell] was never going to blow the whistle when the boy picked it up. They never do and I am clutching a little bit as you can imagine.

“Even at the end when we had a corner, it was up but he wanted the corner to be taken.

“I don’t understand it but it was our naivety and our poor play in terms of not stopping that goal and a mountain to climb after that.”

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