Manchester City have claimed a partial victory in a legal fight with the Premier League over commercial rules governing clubs, including two large sponsorship deals the club was blocked from completing.

An independent panel found the Premier League’s rules regarding commercial deals between clubs and related parties break competition law in two specific ways.

City made the legal challenge against 25 of the regulations in the Premier League’s rulebook regarding Associated Party Transactions (APTs), as well as its decision to reject the two sponsorship deals.

Manchester City have claimed a partial victory in a legal fight with the Premier League over commercial rules governing clubs, including two large sponsorship deals the club was blocked from completing.

An independent panel found the Premier League’s rules regarding commercial deals between clubs and related parties break competition law in two specific ways.

City made the legal challenge against 25 of the regulations in the Premier League’s rulebook regarding Associated Party Transactions (APTs), as well as its decision to reject the two sponsorship deals.

The panel found partly in Manchester City’s favour, agreeing that shareholder loans – where shareholders or ‘associated parties’ lend to or borrow money from the clubs they own – should not be excluded from those rules.

City stated those loans total some £1.5bn across the division, including all of Arsenal and most of Brighton’s borrowing.

The panel also agreed with City’s claim an updated version of the APT rules, which came into force in February this year, were unlawful because of wording changes, which tightened the interpretation of what constitutes ‘fair market value’ in commercial agreements, was unlawful.

The two sponsorship deals, with First Abu Dhabi Bank and another with Etihad Aviation Group, were blocked unfairly, the panel found, as the Premier League did not give City all of the information used for its decisions in time for them to respond.

They also found the Premier League, which itself admitted was understaffed at the time, took several months too long to reach its decision in both cases.

City’s other claims against the Premier League were dismissed.

The Premier League has said it welcomes the tribunal’s findings, “which endorsed the overall objectives, framework and decision-making of the APT system … (but did) identify a small number of discrete elements of the rules which do not, in their current form, comply with competition and public law requirements”.

“These elements can quickly and effectively be remedied by the League and clubs,” the Premier League added.

City thanked the panel and said the findings found the Premier League to have “abused its dominant position” with its approach and rules.

Tottenham Hotspur manager Ange Postecoglou called his side’s collapse against Brighton in the Premier League “probably the worst defeat since I’ve been here”.

Spurs were 2-0 up after 37 minutes and heading for their sixth successive win in all competitions after goals from Brennan Johnson and James Maddison, but conceded three times in the second half as Brighton took the three points.

“It was disappointing and I’m absolutely gutted with that,” said Postecoglou.

“It’s an unacceptable second half – we were nowhere near where we should be. Maybe we got carried away with how we were going.

“We kind of accepted our fate and it’s hard to understand as we’ve not done that while I’ve been here. We usually fight for everything, and when you don’t you pay a price.”

Spurs missed the chance to go sixth in the Premier League and are ninth with three wins, one draw and three losses from their seven matches.

Postecoglou criticised his side’s mentality and spirit, adding: “Maybe things were travelling on too smoothly. Football and life will trip you up if you get too far ahead of yourself and that’s what it looked like in the second half.

“It’s a terrible loss for us, as bad as it gets, and there’s only one way to fix it and that’s my responsibility.

“We lost all our duels, we weren’t competitive and if you’re not competitive, irrespective of what you do tactically, it is not going to work.”

‘We lost complete control o

Chelsea’s heated draw against a 10-man Nottingham Forest dealt a double whammy for Blues boss Enzo Maresca.

Two of his key players are now out of action for their daunting visit to Premier League leaders Liverpool after the international break. Despite only participating in seven league games, feisty Chelsea have already had two of their squad members accumulate five yellow cards.

A single-match suspension is the penalty for amassing five yellows up to and including matchweek 19. Both Wesley Fofana and Marc Cucurella were on thin ice heading into the Forest face-off.

They seemed set for a clean getaway with 78 minutes already ticked off and no warnings. However, Cucurella found himself at the heart of a full-blown brawl with the game hanging in the balance after Forest star James Ward-Prowse had already been dismissed for two yellow cards.

The Spanish fullback was pushed into his own manager Maresca by opponent Neco Williams and fellow Chelsea defender Levi Colwill led the protests, storming over to the sideline to confront Williams, which sparked a large group of players and coaches to join the fracas, reports the Express.

Cucurella was baffled when he stood up to find that referee Chris Kavanagh had flashed a yellow card, despite him being on the receiving end of a push from Williams. The Welsh fullback and Colwill also received bookings, sealing Cucurella’s suspension.

Not long after, Fofana got slapped with a yellow for dragging down substitute Jota Silva as he dashed past the Chelsea backline. The French defender’s tactical trip landed him in hot water and now Chelsea’s gaffer is left to scratch his head over a tough pickle before they travel to Anfield.

Chelsea’s number one, Robert Sanchez, literally saved the day with last-minute heroics between the sticks. And he discussed plans to get the team talking about steering clear of silly fouls in future encounters.

A couple of players are going to miss games because of it, but we need to speak about it in the changing room,” insisted Sanchez. “We deserved more and created chances but we didn’t score the goal to get the points.”

He added: “Massive players but it was unlucky. They need to stop talking to the officials. We have some very good players to come in.”

Maresca – whose team will now face a £25,000 fine for their card-happy conduct – said: “I said many times it is something we need to improve. I like the team the way they are fighting and become a team.”