Roy Hodgson slams Crystal Palace captain Luka Milivojevic for breaching COVID regulations at New Year’s Eve party with Fulham striker Aleksandar Mitrovic

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Roy Hodgson has warned Luka Milivojevic he will be punished for breaching COVID-19 protocols by attending a New Year’s Eve party alongside Aleksandr Mitrovic.

However, the Crystal Palace boss has defended his decision to select the midfielder and let him keep the captain’s armband for the victory against Sheffield United.

Roy Hodgson has warned the Crystal Palace captain to expect repurcussions

Luka Milivojevic (left) and Aleksandr Mitrovic (right) broke COVID-19 protocols

The two culprits were filmed by Mitrovic’s partner celebrating the New Year together at a house party in London.

The Serbia internationals were caught celebrating indoors with at least seven other people, despite government rules forbidding people living in Tier 4 areas such as London from meeting ‘socially indoors with family or friends unless they are part of your household or support bubble.’

“We condemn it, we certainly apologise for it,” said Palace manager Hodgson following yesterday’s 2-0 win. “I’m certain Luka will as well. As far as I’m concerned he should take responsibility for that.

“It’s an internal matter and we will deal with it, but there’s literally nothing positive I can say on the matter.”

The Serbia international captained the Eagles to victory over Sheffield United

Although Hodgson has promised to sanction the midfielder, there were plenty of Eagles supporters who were unhappy with the decision by the club to let Milivojevic play in the current climate.

The former England manager added hastily: “I’m afraid I’m not in contact with the 20-odd thousand Palace fans that we have, so I find comments like that impossible to comment on.

“I am rather surprised if there’s an outcry from Palace fans knowing that they are more concerned basically with us winning football matches, of course, and not breaching Premier League protocols, but on the other hand this is a breach of government guidelines and we apologise for it.”

There was an outbreak of COVID at Craven Cottage, with Fulham condemning Mitrovic after their midweek game against Tottenham Hotspur was cancelled and the clash with Burnley on the weekend also followed suit.