Roy Hodgson reveals which Crystal Palace player’s form spiked after a week of less strenuous training

BY SAM SMITH

Roy Hodgson gave Andros Townsend a week off from full training over the international break in a bid to help the Crystal Palace winger recover from an ongoing injury.

The 28-year-old missed the Eagles’ 2-0 defeat by Leicester City earlier this month with a muscle strain.

Townsend has started Palace’s last two fixtures and assisted Wilfried Zaha’s goal in Saturday’s loss at home to Liverpool.

Hodgson believes a week off over the international break is the reason for the former Tottenham Hotspur man’s improved performances, but has also warned that the injury will not go away during the congested winter period.

“He is battling a little bit with an injury situation which did affect him in the early part of the season when he wasn’t playing well,” said the 72-year-old.

“Luckily with the two-week break that we had, we could give him a week to stay off the training field and try to get some sort of recovery – and we saw the benefits of that. He’s going to have to be very careful going forward because the type of strain that he’s playing through won’t go away with all the games that we have to play.

“You see his desire to score goals. He’s not looking to put a defender on his backside before he shoots, he’s looking to get his shots away early. He’s working on that side of his game and his style of play, but [against Liverpool] it was his busy style of play which produced results as well.”

Joel Ward was substituted for the second successive match having clashed knees with a
Reds forward.

Hodgson said: “The middle of the field and the centre-back area, we are blessed with a lot of players who I believe in that can come in and do a job.

“We are a little bit less blessed in the full-back areas and the centre-forward areas.”

PICTURE BY KEITH GILLARD