Chilwell, Sancho and Abraham to sit out England's Wales clash after breaking coronavirus protocol

Tammy Abraham, Ben Chilwell and Jadon Sancho will not play any part in England's friendly with Wales on Thursday after breaking coronavirus protocol, confirmed Gareth Southgate. 

The trio were pictured attending Abraham's 23rd birthday party on Sunday evening, which with a reported 20 guests exceeded the laws on social gatherings during the pandemic. 

Chelsea star Abraham later apologised for the breach, stating that it was a surprise party he had no knowledge of but that he "deeply regrets" his "naivety". 

Sancho also regretted his actions, explaining via an Instagram post that "I would like to apologise for breaking the government guidelines and although I was unaware upon arriving of the numbers attending, I take full responsibility for my actions. I will make sure moving forward that I learn from this."

Southgate, who left Mason Greenwood and Phil Foden out of this latest squad after the pair also broke Covid rules during the last international window, accepts their contrition, but will not use any of the three in England's latest outing while they may also be excluded for Sunday's Nations League meeting with Belgium. 

"I think the players have already accepted they were in the wrong," he said. "They had broken those lockdown guidelines that were there. I have to be careful being on my moral high-horse when we aren't in camp with the team.

"We do have an issue with the Covid guidelines and making sure any players that comes in is as lower risk as possible. We are having to monitor the players, they are being tested today and tomorrow, we have to check for further symptoms. They obviously miss the game v Wales."

Southgate went on to clarify he took no offence from Jose Mourinho's slip, calling him 'Gary' on more than one occasion during a recent Tottenham press conference. 

"I have to say that he messaged me anyway to apologise," said Southgate. "I knew because he has called me Gary before, in a news conference. I had no issue with that at all - I said there is only one Gareth (Bale) he needs to get right and he will score all the goals for him this year.

"In terms of the players, we have to look after all the players. I have been a player and I didn't like it when managers took a risk with me but they never did. We don't want players missing any football - I'm not prepared to risk players' welfare."