Roy Hodgson believes Crystal Palace will climb the Premier League table and appease disgruntled fans once the likes of key duo Michael Olise and Eberechi Eze are fit to play together.
Palace have registered just five top-flight wins in a season blighted by injury and travel to title contenders Arsenal on Saturday sitting five points above the relegation zone.
Eagles boss Hodgson was subjected to chants of ‘you don’t know what you’re doing’ from unhappy away supporters after substituting Eze during the midweek FA Cup third-round replay loss at Everton.
Eze and Olise, who remains sidelined ahead of the visit to the Emirates Stadium due to a hamstring issue, have started alongside each other only three times this campaign.
Former England manager Hodgson is confident the club’s predicament will improve when the injuries ease and is hopeful of strengthening his depleted squad with a couple of January signings.
‘Unfortunately the way things have gone, it’s become a bit harder for us,’ said the 76-year-old, who began the campaign with the minimum objective of a mid-table finish.
‘But if we can maybe get a couple of those players that we would really like to have, when people like Michael and Eberechi start playing together, which to be frank they haven’t done very often, when and if we can keep that group together, we will start to the climb the table, that’s for sure.
Leave a Reply