Crystal Palace Boss Roy Hodgson Praises 'Top-Class' Joe Hart After Stopper Earns West Ham Point

Roy Hodgson has heaped praise on West Ham goalkeeper Joe Hart after his strong performance against his Crystal Palace side on Saturday. 

Hart has come under heavy criticism since being pushed out of Manchester City by Pep Guardiola and after some disappointing displays at both club and national level questions have been asked about his position in the England squad. 

Some of that pressure may now ease after Hart made a series of impressive saves at Selhurst Park and while the Hammers may have let their two goal lead slip it could have been a more damaging scoreline if not for their loanee keeper, according to Hodgson, as reported in the Evening Standard. 

He said: “He was excellent. It is no surprise to me that West Ham have a top-class goalkeeper who, when needed, and they needed him, can respond. 

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“So well done, Joe – pity that you didn’t have a bad game. I know Joe, he played in almost every one of the 57 games I had with England. When he didn’t play it was because we wanted to give someone else the chance to show what they could do.

“It must be nice for Gareth Southgate and England to know that they’ve still got a goalkeeper of his class.”

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West Ham gained a 2-0 lead by the end of the first half through Javier Hernandez and Andre Ayew before Luka Milivojevic and Wilfried Zaha completed the comeback with Palace's second coming in the 97th minute. 

The win would have helped under pressure Slaven Bilic to get some distance from the bottom where they are now just one point clear of 18th placed Everton. 

Palace remain at the bottom four points away from safety, but after another loss was on the cards they will be more than content with rescuing a point.