Ex-Eagles Boss Sam Allardyce Backs Roy Hodgson to Pull Crystal Palace Out of Early Season Rut

Former England manager Sam Allardyce has backed Roy Hodgson to turn Cyrstal Palace's fortunes around after the Eagles dreadful start to the new season.

Palace currently sit rock bottom of the Premier League table without a point to their name and they're still yet to register a single goal in the league this season. 

Having suffered back to back humiliations in Manchester, with United and City scoring a combined nine goals against Crystal Palace, Hodgson now has two weeks to prepare his side for hosting the reigning Premier League champions on match day eight.

Ex-Palace boss Allardyce is confident that the Eagles can come out of their poor form, however, the 62-year-old has said that keeping players injury free will be vital to their season.

"We stayed up by beating Hull 4-0," Allardyce said of his time in charge at Selhurst Park, as quoted by the Croydon Advertiser.. 

"Because of the fixtures we had that was probably the hardest to achieve.

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"But the quality of the team performances was the highlight for me. A lot of that was to do with some shrewd investment in the window in January and the players getting better.

"So the players there, they've got to get them fit and keep them fit. That was the turning point for us - how many players we kept fit."

Allardyce also touched on Frank de Boer's successor at the helm of Crystal Palace, claiming that Hodgson has enough experience to guide the club out of a relegation battle.

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"Roy is exceptionally good and he has been in this position before with other football clubs," he said. 

"It's getting that best 11 on the pitch and building their confidence.

"That was a part of why we got out of trouble last year. We grew their confidence by making the team more compact, more solid. Then the quality players scored goals that turned a draw into a win, and a loss into a draw."