Speaking at his pre-match press conference, the manager said of Clyne: “He’s been back in training, which is good news for us. He’ll be available to play at the weekend.
“We’ve lost James Tomkins to a calf strain – I don’t know how long that will keep him out, but he’s certainly unavailable for this game. Then, you know about [the injuries to] Nathan Ferguson and James McArthur.
“[Naououri] Ahamada has taken a knock to his ankle. He didn’t train Tuesday and didn’t train today, but will have a fitness test tomorrow – it’s a knock rather than an injury.”
Palace’s win over West Ham United on Saturday not only took them to 40 points on the table, but also up to 11th place – and Hodgson, with Premier League status now all-but-secured, is targeting further improvements in the Eagles’ remaining four games.
He noted: “I don’t know what my expectations were, really. Going into a new job, you keep expectations at a level. Right from the start, I found a group of players I thought were good and I believed in, and believed would get the club out of trouble.
“Did I expect to get to this point with four matches left to play? I can’t say that I did, but I can’t say it was something I really thought about.
“It’s very simple – we need to keep winning. To win, you need the lot: you need the desire, the attitude, the focus, the preparation, the quality of attacking play, the quality of defending play, to be switched on at all times of the game… and then you need that little bit of luck, because it’s not a science, it’s an art.
“You need all of those aspects as well. That’s what football life is, basically. I’ve got no plans to pinpoint any particular aspect: we’ll keep working on all aspects of the game, which I think the players deserve a lot of credit for, having worked so well in the last six games.”