“But I thought there were a lot of aspects to our play on Wednesday night which were very satisfying. I thought we carried out our gameplan pretty well and on another occasion, I think we’d have even got a result from that game. I do think we take a little bit of positivity from the Wednesday evening game into that game tomorrow with us.”
Team news
Gabriel Jesus and Oleksandr Zinchenko missed our FA Cup tie with Liverpool last time out and it remains to be seen if they’ll be fit enough to play some part in this game.
Mohamed Elneny and Takehiro Tomiyasu are away with their national teams, Fabio Vieira and Thomas Partey remain out, while Jurrien Timber is back doing some light training but remains a long-term absentee.
training 190124
Jordan Ayew is with the Ghana squad at the Africa Cup of Nations, while Michael Olise will be missing for a few weeks with a hamstring injury, the same problem that has sidelined captain Joel Ward and Jesurun Rak-Sakyi, but the youngster returned to training this week.
Cheick Doucoure is out for the season with an Achilles injury, while Gunner Rob Holding has been out since December with an ankle issue as he still awaits his league debut.
Talking tactics
Adrian Clarke, writing in the official matchday programme: From a tactical perspective Hodgson tries not to complicate matters, opting for a straightforward 4-3-3 or 4-2-3-1 most weeks. He did switch to a defensive 5-4-1 away to Manchester City, and the players looked very comfortable in that set-up designed to stifle space inside their own defensive third and counter-attack with quality, using Jean-Philippe Mateta to hold the ball up.
When facing the toughest opponents, Palace are usually content to sit behind the ball and keep a disciplined shape. They average just a 42 per cent share of possession and are happy to play on the break, and from the turnovers they create, Hodgson’s side like to get the ball forward quickly to their front three using long diagonal passes from central defenders Joachim Andersen (above) and Marc Guehi.
Inside their own half the Eagles are usually very aggressive, making the second-highest number of tackles so far this term. Their centre-back partnership is excellent, and in central midfield they are abrasive opponents that stifle the rhythm of their opponents. This ensures they limit shots on their own goal, and only ourselves and Manchester City have had to make fewer saves than the Eagles.
