Roy Hodgson praises Wilfried Zaha for keeping cool despite Southampton’s fouls on the Crystal Palace forward

BY ANDREW McSTEEN

Roy Hodgson praised Crystal Palace forward Wilfried Zaha for not retaliating to constant forceful attention from Southampton in the Eagles’ 3-1 defeat on Tuesday.

Zaha won a penalty just before half-time with the score at 1-1 after Nathan Redmond bundled him over. However, Fraser Forster’s save from Palace captain Luka Milivojevic was crucial and swung the momentum in favour of the hosts, who scored a further two goals to take all three points.

And despite the Ivorian picking up a yellow card right at the end of the match after a coming together with Jack Stephens, Palace boss Hodgson praised his player for getting on with his business despite the unwanted attention.

“I think Wilf’s one of the most fouled players in the league, isn’t he?” asked Hodgson. “I occasionally see statistics where he’s one of the most fouled players and he gets fouled because he’s very good on the ball and he runs with the ball.

“I thought he did well tonight on many occasions, he got us the penalty with a good run in the box. And I thought that a lot of other runs that he made, not least that one where he was hauled down when he was about to go past the last man and possibly score a goal.

“So he’s done what he should be doing in my opinion. He’s done what we would like him to do, but fouls unfortunately are part of the game of football and you can’t legislate for that.

“You can’t complain every time that a player is not being given the freedom of the park because he’s being fouled and I’m afraid fouls are part and parcel of football and you have to get up and get on with it and he did that tonight I thought very well.

“He had one little contretemps when he was quite obviously fouled at the end by one of the central defenders smashing into his back and he reacted to it, but he’s a human being and I think most people will react to that.”