Crystal Palace boss Hodgson backing Benteke to carry on scoring – and gives insight into why Belgian striker struggled for goals before

Roy Hodgson has backed Christain Benteke to carry over his rediscovered goalscoring form into next season, whilst also explaining why the Crystal Palace striker struggled in front of goal for so long.

The 30-year-old’s Eagles career looked well and truly over at the beginning of the season – especially when his international team-mate Michy Batshuayi returned on a season-long loan from Chelsea.

However, with Benteke’s commanding aerial ability and fearsome eye for a goal restored, there is a clamour amongst the Palace faithful to extend his stay at Selhurst Park, with his deal set to expire in the summer.

When asked how Hodgson has managed to rekindle a goalscoring touch from Benteke – who has eight goals to his name this season – and keep his motivation high during his drought in front of goal, the 73-year-old said: “It’s a question with forwards that we hear so often. Their lifeblood is goals, and it doesn’t matter how they’re playing – if the goals aren’t coming, it’s very difficult for everyone to keep faith in them.

“All we [the managerial staff] have been able to do with Christian is to stick with him as best as we could during these periods. There have been injury periods as well – he’s not been available for every single game for the last four seasons.

“He deserves credit for keeping going, getting over the injuries, for fighting off the criticism and working hard towards the goal of becoming the player that he obviously believes he is and can be, and we have always thought he is and can be.

“It’s nice – albeit that it’s nearly the end of the season – that we are seeing that style of play and that quality of player that we have always known was there within him.”

When asked if Benteke was close to reaching the mesmerising form he had when he first arrived at Aston Villa, and if injuries and time have changed him as a player, Hodgson said: “It might have done for a while, but he’s really put the injury problems behind him now – I don’t think he gives them a thought.

“When you come into a new country, you sometimes come in without any major exceptions, and you avoid major criticism because people are getting to know you and getting to see what you can do.

“They watched him score a lot of goals that season; winning heading duels, he’s a good runner, a good athlete, and people are thinking ‘fantastic’ – so much so, that Liverpool decided they were going to spend an awful lot of money at that time to take him to their club.

“It’s momentum with strikers. He didn’t start badly here at Crystal Palace in that six months or so before I came to the club. But when I came, he had suffered from one or two injuries, and he wasn’t in that sort of form and having the momentum that he has now.

“The goals had dried up a little bit, and then people were asking the questions – ‘How come you did it at Aston Villa, but you didn’t do it at Liverpool? And now you’re not doing it at Crystal Palace? What has gone wrong?’

“Maybe what went wrong was that he was fighting and trying hard to put things right, and the more he tried, the harder it became.”

While it is still unclear whether Benteke will put pen to paper on a new deal with the South Londoners, Hodgson is adamant that with his confidence returning and a good pre-season under his belt, Benteke will hit the ground running come next season.

“It’s good that he has got there now – that’s the most important thing. He will finish the season strongly, I am sure. And then he has got next season with that momentum and that confidence and that good feeling about himself and people saying good things about him – a good pre-season should really help him to get going again.”