Roy Hodgson says Crystal Palace are more “unstoppable” than they were during his first stint in charge — because Wilfried Zaha was their main danger man then, and now they have “several”.
Zaha scored more goals than anyone else for Palace when Hodgson was last at the helm between 2017 and 2021.
However, the Eagles cruised to comfortable safety under Hodgson at the end of last season despite Zaha’s absence with a groin injury.
They sit seventh in the Premier League this season and are adapting quickly to Zaha’s exit for Galatasaray.
“The players have filled a vacuum”, Hodgson told The Times. “Big names do create a situation where the others do linger too long in their shadow.”
“Wilf was one pretty unstoppable player, and now we have several. There would have been a time when teams would have faced us and thought: ‘Well, we just have to stop Zaha.’ It’s not that easy now.”
Palace visit Aston Villa on Saturday, where deadline day signing Rob Holding could make his debut.
