Ahead of the Eagles' final match of 2023 against Brentford at Selhurst Park on Saturday (30th, 15:00 GMT kick-off), read on for the manager's early team news and thoughts on finishing the year on a high...
Hodgson on pre-Brentford team news, Ayew, Olise & Selhurst Park...
As the festive fixtures arrive thick and fast, Roy Hodgson conducted his pre-Brentford press conference following Palace's match against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge on Wednesday night.
On early team news ahead of Brentford…
“Sam Johnstone, no [he will not be back].
“Odsonne Edouard, we will see in the training session tomorrow [i.e. on Thursday]. He's been training this week, but not with us. He's been training, doing his rehabilitation work with the sports science people. I don't know what the result of his session today [Wednesday] was. We'll maybe find out tomorrow if he's going to have any chance of being with us, but it will be touch and go.
"I must say at the moment, the way JP Mateta is playing, I don't know that it's 100 percent priority to get him back – we have a good centre-forward, he's doing a good job.
“But it’d be great to get Edouard back as well because you need more than one centre-forward. You need that competition that JP provided for Edouard when he was the number one choice.
“I've been impressed with him [Mateta]. He’s been very good.”
On Jordan Ayew’s expected departure for the Africa Cup of Nations in January…
"Luckily, at the moment, we do have players we are quite interested in seeing as well. Jeff Schlupp’s not playing at the moment, Will Hughes isn't playing, [Matheus] França is not playing and [Naouirou] Ahamada is not playing, so it’s not as if we don't have anybody.
“We'll have to find somebody else. Obviously Jordan Ayew is a player who’s been very good for the club for a long period of time now, but he could have been injured [in this time]. He's not injured – he's going to Africa instead – so it's one of those things where we'll imagine he's injured and replace him as an injured player, not someone miles away playing football in Africa.”
On Michael Olise’s form…
“We missed him for those months [in the early part of the season]. He's been a miss. And the same really applies with [Ebere] Eze, because he's not played many matches for us either and they’ve played very few games together. We have two very good quality players there who we think will make life better for us.
“We think some of the others are improving all the time, learning the positions. It's a bit of a déjà vu situation for me at the moment, because after the games, I find it hard to really accept too much criticism of the team's performances.
“But on the other hand, I'm talking to people whose judgment has to be from the result backwards, and the results have been poor. Until such time we can get some better results, I will have to accept that, but I would be more concerned if the team were playing badly and more concerned if we didn't have the Olises and the Ezes to come back and help us out of this situation.”
On goalscoring…
“Yes, it has [been an issue]. With Edouard coming back as well, I think we've got goals in us, I really do. But time will tell.
“I mean the answer to those questions is open to debate. Some people will say they don't see us scoring many goals with the way we play or the players we’ve got on the field. Others will say we do. I'm in that latter category. I think there's goals in the team. I think we will score goals when everybody is fit and on song.
“I think, to go out like we've done in these last four games and give such a good account of ourselves against top opponents, that should give me heart.”
On ending the year on a high at Selhurst Park…
“[I’d like] the same as the Crystal Palace fans always give the team, so I don't think I need to ask for any more than that. Their support's been very good.
“The game against Brighton was electric. Unfortunately, the better half was the first one. If we could have left the field with that first-half performance, I think the crowd would've been ecstatic and happy enough with the result.
“But the crowd will get behind the team. I'm sure they know how important it is for us now. We've got to start picking up some points from somewhere, so I know they'll be behind the team because that's who they are: Crystal Palace supporters are famous for their atmosphere.
“Look out there today [at Stamford Bridge]. I seemed to hear more from our fans. I don't know, perhaps I'm biased, but I thought our fans were every bit as loud as their fans throughout the game – probably louder.”