Of the tweaks from the side which kicked-off against Southampton, Hodgson has handed Jack Butland his Premier League debut in a Palace shirt.
He discussed the reason behind this, as well as the reason two key players are absent from the squad:
"We’ve lost two players to family issues unfortunately. Both Luka Milivojevic and Patrick van Aanholt have family issues which meant they couldn’t take part in today’s game.
"Jack Butland we wanted to make sure got a game at least before the end of the season, so Vicente [Guaita] stepped aside for him. Andros [Townsend] and Jordan [Ayew] have virtually been swapping positions to some extent anyway, as have Gary Cahill and Scott Dann. So they’re not massive changes."
The manager also gave his views on how the Eagles will approach their final three games, in which they face Villa, Arsenal and Liverpool:
"I hope they [the players] approach it with enthusiasm and energy. The season’s gone okay for us [but] we’d like it to go even better if we can do well in these last three games. So the opportunity is there for us.
"They’re good games; they’re games against opposition in the top half of the table. I think this is the moment they could relish the challenge."
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