Roy Hodgson has insisted he will steer Crystal Palace away from relegation trouble after they slumped to another home defeat against Chelsea to leave the former England manager under mounting pressure.
Two goals in injury time from Conor Gallagher, who had cancelled out Jefferson Lerma’s first goal for Palace at the start of the second half, and Enzo Fernández made it 14 successive defeats for Palace against their London rivals in all competitions and 13 in the Premier League.
They now face a trip to play Everton at Goodison Park, where they last won in 2015, next Monday in what could be a crucial relegation showdown.
But Hodgson, who has seen his side slip to within five points of Sean Dyche’s team after a poor run of form, believes that, despite injuries to key players in Eberechi Eze and Michael Olise, Palace still have the quality in their squad to remain well clear of danger.
“It’s a bad period but it’s been caused by the injury situation,” he said. “It’s 14 games [left], a lot of matches and a lot of points and I think we’ve shown enough.
“So I don’t have any concerns, but there is no complacency and points are very necessary to get away from the relegation zone. This group of players are good enough and tonight gave me even more faith and belief.”
Chelsea came into the match having conceded eight goals in their last two Premier League fixtures against Liverpool and Wolves and were way off the pace in the first half. But while Mauricio Pochettino acknowledged they must improve before visiting Manchester City on Saturday, he paid tribute to Gallagher and was satisfied with a victory that moved them up to 10th spot.
“He’s a player that has great commitment to the team, is always trying to compensate every single situation and that is priceless to have a player like him,” Pochettino said of Gallagher, whose contract expires in the summer of 2025. “I was so disappointed after the first half: so slow, so flat. Second half we started the game how we should have started from the first minute. In the end we deserved the victory.”
