Covid concerns: Crystal Palace cancels Christmas party

The Crystal Palace Christmas party has been canceled, according to manager Patrick Vieira.

The Premier League side was due to hold their traditional annual shindig for the foreseeable future, but it has now been cancelled.

And as reported by air sports, both Eagles boss Vieira and the players came to the decision together amid mounting fears of coronavirus outbreaks at other clubs.

Vieira said: ‘This is part of the culture of this country, this Christmas is what the players do.

“We did it a few years ago and this is something players love to do, but given the situation, we and the players decided to cancel the Christmas party and it was the right thing to do.

‘I’m just like everyone else. We are all concerned about the increase in positive cases, not only in football, but also in our society. Everywhere else, the cases are increasing. If there are more outside cases, then it will of course be more at football clubs.

“We just have to be careful and hopefully everyone will pay a little more attention to how we socialize from outside the training facility.”

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Tottenham saw their games against Rennes and Brighton postponed this week, while Leicester had several absentees from their Europa League game on Thursday, and several other managers have revealed that their clubs are suffering

Palace will host Everton on Sunday at 4.30am after three consecutive defeats, as Rafael Benitez’s side enter the game after beating Arsenal 2-1 in a smashing late comeback.