A potential fallout is on the cards at Crystal Palace, after captain Luka Milivojevic was permitted to start the club’s meeting with Sheffield United, despite having seemingly broken Covid-19 protocols just days ago.
Schlupp & Eze on target
Roy Hodgson’s men are currently locked in action with the Blades at Selhurst Park.
Palace headed into proceedings in search of a bounce-back result, having not managed a single win across their last 5 in the Premier League.
And, as things stand, a bounce-back 3 points is precisely what the capital outfit are headed towards.
The hosts opened the afternoon’s scoring inside the opening 4 minutes, when a gorgeously worked team move eventually saw Christian Benteke slip in Jeffrey Schlupp, who went on to pick out the bottom corner with style:
A nightmare start for Sheffield United! 😩
Christian Benteke tees up Jeffrey Schlupp and his deflected effort ends up in the bottom corner! 🦅
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Then, on the stroke of half-time, Sheffield United’s hopes of dragging themselves back into things were dealt a hammer blow.
This time it was a stroke of individual magic which saw the Blades undone, as substitute Eberechi Eze drove forward from his own half, dancing beyond the visitors’ midfield, before slotting home from just outside the area:
“He is a showman and Selhurst Park is his new theatre!” 🎭
Eberechi Eze glides through the Sheffield United defence before finishing with aplomb! What a goal! 👏
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📲 Download the @SkySports app! pic.twitter.com/yMFiUE7akW— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) January 2, 2021
Mili’s questionable actions
As outlined above, however, whilst things on the pitch are currently going swimmingly for Palace, in the aftermath of the clash, questions may well need to be answered.
This comes with Luka Milivojevic having been utilised from the off by Roy Hodgson this afternoon.
Serbian midfielder and Eagles captain Milivojevic has seen his name catch the headlines over the last 24 hours, on the back of the emergence of a series of posts on social media.
The 29-year-old was both photographed and recorded alongside fellow countryman Aleksandar Mitrovic at a New Year’s Eve gathering on Thursday night, in Instagram posts which have since been deleted by the Fulham star’s wife, Kristina Janjic.
7 other individuals were also spotted in the footage in question, one of whom came in the form of Milivojevic’s wife, Milica.
Such a gathering of course marked a serious breach of the current Covid-19 protocols in place in London, which insist that those living in the capital ‘must not meet socially indoors with family or friends unless they are part of your household or support bubble.’
It now remains to be seen whether Palace deem it necessary to release a post-game statement regarding the matter.
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Premier League table
# | Team | MP | D | P |
1 | Liverpool FC | 16 | 17 | 33 |
2 | Manchester United FC | 16 | 9 | 33 |
3 | Tottenham Hotspur FC | 16 | 14 | 29 |
4 | Leicester City FC | 16 | 9 | 29 |
5 | Everton FC | 16 | 6 | 29 |
6 | Chelsea FC | 16 | 13 | 26 |
7 | Aston Villa FC | 15 | 13 | 26 |
8 | Manchester City FC | 14 | 9 | 26 |
9 | Southampton FC | 16 | 6 | 26 |
10 | West Ham United FC | 17 | 3 | 26 |
11 | Leeds United | 17 | -3 | 23 |
12 | Wolverhampton Wanderers FC | 16 | -6 | 21 |
13 | Arsenal FC | 16 | -3 | 20 |
14 | Newcastle United FC | 15 | -7 | 19 |
15 | Crystal Palace FC | 16 | -9 | 19 |
16 | Burnley FC | 15 | -11 | 16 |
17 | Brighton & Hove Albion FC | 16 | -7 | 13 |
18 | Fulham FC | 15 | -10 | 11 |
19 | West Bromwich Albion | 16 | -24 | 8 |
20 | Sheffield United FC | 16 | -19 | 2 |
Player | Team | Goals |
---|---|---|
Salah, Mohamed | Liverpool FC | 13 |
Son, Heung Min | Tottenham Hotspur FC | 12 |
Fernandes, Bruno | Manchester United FC | 11 |
Vardy, Jamie | Leicester City FC | 11 |
Calvert-Lewin, Dominic | Everton FC | 11 |
Kane, Harry | Tottenham Hotspur FC | 10 |
Bamford, Patrick | Leeds United | 10 |
Zaha, Wilfried | Crystal Palace FC | 8 |
Wilson, Callum | Newcastle United FC | 8 |
Rashford, Marcus | Manchester United FC | 7 |
Lacazette, Alexandre | Arsenal FC | 7 |
Ings, Danny | Southampton FC | 6 |
Mane, Sadio | Liverpool FC | 6 |
Watkins, Ollie | Aston Villa FC | 6 |
Maupay, Neal | Brighton & Hove Albion FC | 6 |
Abraham, Tammy | Chelsea FC | 6 |
Grealish, Jack | Aston Villa FC | 5 |
Firmino, Roberto | Liverpool FC | 5 |
Barnes, Harvey | Leicester City FC | 5 |
Soucek, Tomas | West Ham United FC | 5 |
Player | Team | Red Cards | Yellow Cards |
---|---|---|---|
Bellerin, Hector | Arsenal FC | 0 | 6 |
Bissouma, Yves | Brighton & Hove Albion FC | 1 | 5 |
Romeu, Oriol | Southampton FC | 0 | 5 |
Dunk, Lewis | Brighton & Hove Albion FC | 1 | 4 |
Phillips, Kalvin | Leeds United | 0 | 5 |
Cash, Matty | Aston Villa FC | 0 | 5 |
Gallagher, Conor | West Bromwich Albion | 0 | 5 |
Evans, Jonny | Leicester City FC | 0 | 5 |
Milivojevic, Luka | Crystal Palace FC | 1 | 4 |
Egan, John | Sheffield United FC | 1 | 4 |
Hayden, Isaac | Newcastle United FC | 0 | 5 |
Grealish, Jack | Aston Villa FC | 0 | 4 |
Ward-Prowse, James | Southampton FC | 0 | 4 |
Klich, Mateusz | Leeds United | 0 | 4 |
McGinn, John | Aston Villa FC | 0 | 4 |
Reid, Bobby | Fulham FC | 0 | 4 |
Doucoure, Abdoulaye | Everton FC | 0 | 4 |
Mings, Tyrone | Aston Villa FC | 0 | 3 |
Berge, Sander | Sheffield United FC | 0 | 4 |
Mendy, Nampalys | Leicester City FC | 0 | 4 |
Player | Team | Assists |
---|---|---|
Kane, Harry | Tottenham Hotspur FC | 11 |
Fernandes, Bruno | Manchester United FC | 7 |
Grealish, Jack | Aston Villa FC | 7 |
De Bruyne, Kevin | Manchester City FC | 6 |
Son, Heung Min | Tottenham Hotspur FC | 5 |
Robertson, Andrew | Liverpool FC | 5 |
Rashford, Marcus | Manchester United FC | 4 |
Werner, Timo | Chelsea FC | 4 |
Adams, Che | Southampton FC | 4 |
Harrison, Jack | Leeds United | 4 |
Chilwell, Benjamin | Chelsea FC | 4 |
McGinn, John | Aston Villa FC | 4 |
Cresswell, Aaron | West Ham United FC | 4 |
Digne, Lucas | Everton FC | 4 |
Salah, Mohamed | Liverpool FC | 3 |
Vardy, Jamie | Leicester City FC | 3 |
Ings, Danny | Southampton FC | 3 |
Firmino, Roberto | Liverpool FC | 3 |
Sterling, Raheem | Manchester City FC | 3 |
Ward-Prowse, James | Southampton FC | 3 |
Source: 101greatgoals.com