Roy Hodgson believes Crystal Palace were duly unpaid despite their heroic efforts against Chelsea in the Premier League.
Palace fought pretty bravely against their London rivals but couldn’t stop their winning juggernaut. Alvaro Morata gave the home side a lead but Andros Townsend reduced the deficit after the break.
Wilfried Zaha once again tormented the Blues defender with his attacking prowess but failed to unlock the Chelsea defence. A second from Morata and Pedro added another one to round off an all round performance.
Palace’s fifth defeat in six games left them reeling in the 14th position and with Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester United up ahead on their schedule Hodgson needs to work a way out for them.
The gaffer said, “At the start of the second half we played well and got back into the game.
“At that moment I thought we were looking good and looked more than capable of holding onto that, but the second goal puts you on the back foot again and that was quickly followed by the third goal.
“At 3-1 you are always going to find it very difficult. Chelsea are bringing on players of incredible quality and are 3-1 up.
“I was proud of the way the players kept at it and kept fighting towards the end.
I don’t think we were under the cosh by any stretch of the imagination. We were not confronted with lots of chances and opportunities, I thought we kept them at bay pretty well.
“We had chances to get to 3-2 so I can’t complain bitterly about anything there, just a bit disappointed that the rewards for our efforts weren’t better.”