Roy Hodgson is backing Crystal Palace to kick on and secure Premier League survival following a 4-1 win at Leicester City. Michy Batshuayi opened the scoring four minutes before the break when he deflected in James McArthur’s shot. Jonny Evans equalised for Leicester, his first goal for the club, before they conceded three times in the final 20 minutes.
Wilfried Zaha’s close-range volley and injury-time strike came either side of Luka Milivojevic’s penalty after Evans brought down Jeffrey Schlupp.
Palace jumped to 13th, six points above the bottom three and two behind Leicester, and Hodgson is hoping his side can now kick on and reach the magical 40-point mark asap. “As far as we’re concerned there are 11 matches left and we’re on a good run of form but it’s a victory which will give us a lot of heart,” Hodgson said. “We are getting closer to getting that magical number of 40. If we’re capable of coming to a team like this and also getting a win at Man City I’ve got to believe in this team.
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We’re never beaten. “I was very pleased with the defending throughout the game. It was important we dug in, Leicester are a good team and we worked hard to restrict them. As the game wore on we established a bit more control.”
Hodgson also reserved praise for Chelsea loanee Batshuayi after his first goal for the club. “He’s only played four games for us, he is looking very lively, at Doncaster he was unlucky not to score,” he added. “We think he is doing what we’d like him to do and showing all the signs of being a goalscorer.”
