Saturday 27 June 2020 14:29, UK
Watford have launched an investigation into claims alleging that two of their players broke government lockdown rules by attending a gathering at Andre Gray’s house on Friday night.
It is claimed in social media posts that team-mate Domingos Quina was among those who attended the house party, which was held on the striker's birthday.
In a story published by The Athletic, Watford officials are described as being "disappointed" by the breach, which was revealed to have taken place in a series of now-deleted videos on Gray's Instagram.
A club statement read: "Watford Football Club is aware of social media posts which suggest two players contravened government lockdown protocols.
"The club will fully investigate the matter and speak to the players concerned.
"No further comment will be made."
Watford, who sit outside the relegation zone in the Premier League by just one point, host Southampton at Vicarage Road on Sunday, live on Sky Sports.
The Hornets have taken one point from their two games since the league's restart earlier this month and Nigel Pearson wants February's victory over league champions Liverpool to be the benchmark for the rest of the season.
"We need to draw on it but it has gone now. It is in the past, it is three points on a day where we weren't expected to pick any points up," he said ahead of Sunday's game with Southampton.
"Our focus now has to be on the present. The nature of being in relegation battles is being able to focus on the job in hand and we have to take care of our own performances.
"That is the benchmark you are aiming for. Not always achievable and teams are coming to terms with playing in a different environment.
"We have just got to make sure that our game is close to our best. If we do we have always got a chance of winning games, it doesn't matter who you play against.
"How I measure our performance is against us, not really against our opponents. If we get our performance somewhere near our best we will always have a chance.
"We are looking to get as many points as we can. For me it is very much a case of preparing ourselves and having a single-minded approach."
