Crystal Palace boss Roy Hodgson is hoping he can guide his side to a top-half finish following their 2-0 victory at Bournemouth on Saturday, but was left to bemoan the injury issues the Eagles are currently experiencing.
The Eagles’ victory over Eddie Howe’s side was their fourth consecutive Premier League victory and saw them jump up into ninth position (as per premierleague.com).
The 72-year-old told the media, as reported via Football.london: “Well, I still maintain we finished 10th that first year when I was at the club when we had the same number of points with Newcastle and they pipped us on goal difference.
“That was a level 10th for me, which I was quite satisfied with. We would like to push on and go a bit further of course, but I think one of the problems we are going to find is the squad is quite small. It is limited.”
Do you think Crystal Palace can achieve a top-half finish?
Yes
No
Crystal Palace travelled down to the south coast without three players – Martin Kelly, Jeffrey Schlupp and James Tomkins. Judging by Hodgson’s comments, it appears the trio could miss the remainder of the campaign. The former England boss said: “We have lost three very important, senior first-team players and it’s unlikely we’ll get more than one of them back in the coming weeks.
“It is going to be a major challenge for the small group of players we’ve got to get through so many games in such a short period of time.”
TIF Thoughts…
Considering Palace are currently in the top half of the table, in our view, they stand a good chance of achieving a top-10 finish. Hodgson named the three absentees as ‘senior first-team players’ and whilst it is unknown exactly how much their absence will impact on results, we believe their experience will be missed. Kelly, Schlupp and Tomkins combined have played 345 times for the Eagles.