MY ACCOUNT
Roy Hodgson claims Crystal Palace remain in a relegation dogfight but the task facing them is not as overwhelming after picking up 10 points from their last four games.
Palace won their first three matches under Hodgson following a winless run of 12 games with former boss Patrick Vieira at the helm.
Saturday’s goalless draw at home to Everton extended the run to leave Hodgson’s men nine points clear of the drop zone.
The Eagles are still without Wilfried Zaha due to a groin injury and their star man will miss out again tonight at Wolves.
Hodgson, 75, said: “I think the size of the dog we’re fighting might have got slightly smaller.
“It’s still a fight, there’s no doubt about that. The dog is nowhere near as small as we’d like it to be.
“I’m not going to go as far as talking about mathematically safe. I still think any team on 37 points that sits back and thinks it’s job done is making a huge mistake.
“It would be an incredible lack of ambition and professionalism and desire to have six games in front of you and decide that 37 points will see us through.
“I came here in the hope I would leave the club in the Premier League. If it so happens that we are there on 37 points and goal difference, so be it.
“That’s something I don’t contemplate at the moment. I think in those six games we’re capable of taking more points and getting ourselves fighting even smaller dogs.”
Asked whether Zaha would walk back into the team, Hodgson added: “The honest answer is that when Wilf is fit, he will play.
“I still think one is always going to be dependent on one’s best players, on one’s match-winning player.
“But to become a really good team you need more than one.”
Palace can leapfrog Chelsea into 11th with victory at Molineux, something which seemed unthinkable when Hodgson returned on March 21.
At the stage, the gap to the Blues stood at 11 points but Palace are now just two points behind.
