Crystal Palace manager Roy Hodgson has told talkSPORT that Ebere Eze will be fined after becoming the latest footballer to breach coronavirus protocols last weekend.
The talented playmaker attended former club QPR’s FA Cup tie with Fulham on January 9 and failed to wear a mask at all times while at the Kiyan Prince Foundation Stadium.
Eze’s request to attend the fixture was granted by QPR on the condition he followed COVID-19 protocols and returned a negative coronavirus test prior to the match.
Palace were left fuming with the 22-year-old’s actions and in a club statement on Monday insisted they would deal with the matter internally and described his actions as an ‘error of judgement’.
QPR also admitted they made a mistake in allowing their ex-starlet to attend the fixture.
Eze is not the only Palace player to land themselves in hot water in recent times, after skipper Luka Milivojevic breached COVID-19 guidelines by attending a party on New Year’s Eve.
And speaking to the media ahead of their game with Arsenal tomorrow night – live on talkSPORT – Hodgson confirmed Eze would not be dropped for the London derby but would be receiving a suitable punishment for his actions.
“If you’re asking me on this occasion that the foolish thing Eberechi Eze did merits that he should be left out of the team then I don’t,” he remarked.
“It does merit a fine, because a slap on the wrist is not enough. He’s got to understand we take this very seriously.
“We don’t want any of our players involved in any way breaching the coronavirus rules that have been put out there, which so many people are working hard to respect.
“When something happens when one of our players has been shown not to respect it, even though I think he did it naively and foolishly, not a determined gesture on his part to go out and break a rule, but he did break a rule.
“He’s been made very much aware that we take that seriously and we’re not happy with him at all.
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“The only way we can really show that is by fining him, which is something that I am personally not a big fan.
“During the years any players that have worked with me [will tell you] I’m not one to go straight to the fines but on this occasion that’s where I think this error of judgment that he’s made deserves and he needs to be very certain or very caution he doesn’t make any other errors of judgement of this type in the future because I can take the public at large take clear exception to him.”