Norwich City star Alex Tettey had to take on the challenge of a four-legged friend as he maintained fitness levels in a public park this morning.

The Canaries haven’t had a game for a month, with football currently suspended due to the coronavirus pandemic, and players have been having to keep sharp from home.

With the Premier League season suspended until at least the start of May, the former Norway international midfielder had been putting out cones to use for his individual training – only to find he had company.

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Steve Smith sent Tettey a message on Twitter afterwards to explain, saying: “Apologies @NorwichCityFC, @tettinho27 was training well and putting some cones out for the next exercise but my dog started to systematically steal them. Sorry for the teeth marks...”

Along with an accompanying photograph of the guilty culprit from Mr Smith’s wife, it seems City’s longest serving current first-team player managed to tackle the problem as he has on so many occasions since joining from French club Rennes in 2012.

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Tettey, who turned 34 on Saturday and who recently extended his contract until 2021, has made 233 appearances for Norwich and sits in 50th place in the club’s all-time list.