Roy Hodgson lavishes praise on Palace midfielder – and tips him to be a Player of the Year contender

Roy Hodgson reckons that James McArthur is a contender for Crystal Palace’s Player of the Year award – and has lavished praise on the Scottish midfielder.

The 32-year-old Glaswegian has played more than 200 matches for the Eagles since arriving from Wigan Athletic.

McArthur won the Eagles’ Player of the Month award for June.

Palace manager Hodgson said: “I prefer to talk about him in the three years I’ve been here. I know he did well before that too, but I don’t have any real statistical information on that side of things.

“Since I came to the club he has been outstanding in every respect. He’s been outstanding on the field of play and off it – in particular on the training field. He has proven to be so reliable. His level of performance very rarely drops below what he’s capable of giving.

“He’s embodied in some respect the spirit, work-rate and ethos we’ve tried to engender here in the three years.

“I would think he would be well in contention for Player of the Year as well. He is the type of player who can easily be under-rated at a football club, because you have to be aware of all the things he does on the field of play which are so important for the team but not always be eye-catching.

“I’m delighted he’s getting some sort of accolades. But he knows he doesn’t need any reminding of how highly I and my coaching staff rate him. We think he’s fantastic. His fitness levels are quite incredible. I don’t even know how old he is, but I know he’ll be playing football for a long time to come – there’s no question of that.

“If he can avoid serious injury he has many, many years of football left in him.”

PICTURE BY KEITH GILLARD