Man City's Mendy the latest EPL player to breach virus rules
(AP Photo/Dave Thompson)LONDON – Manchester City expressed disappointment Sunday that defender Benjamin Mendy became the latest partying Premier League player to breach English coronavirus rules by hosting friends at his house on New Year’s Eve. People from different households are banned from mixing indoors in the northern English area where Mendy lives. “The club is aware of a New Year’s Eve COVID-19 breach involving Benjamin Mendy and the subsequent media reporting of it," City said. "Ben has had a COVID test and is liaising with Manchester City about this.”Mendy has tweeted urging people “to take care of you and yours” as midnight approached on Thursday night. The player issued an apology on social media for his “bad mistake” while the club said the matter had been dealt with internally.
Disjointed and overrun, Man Utd slumps to loss on EPL return
(Richard Heathcote/Pool via AP)Manchester United began its Premier League campaign with a performance as disjointed as its offseason. Maybe the 3-1 home loss to Crystal Palace on Saturday shouldn’t really have come as a surprise. After all, United only ended a pandemic-prolonged 2019-20 season 33 days ago with a demoralizing loss to Sevilla in the Europa League semifinals. “We knew Manchester United didn’t play last week and that we had the mental advantage,” Palace winger Andros Townsend said. On a day when 21 goals were scored in four games, there were also wins for Everton, Leeds and Arsenal.