Roy Hodgson Admits Avoiding Relegation With Crystal Palace Would Be His Greatest Escape

Roy Hodgson has admitted that avoiding relegation with Crystal Palace this season would be the most impressive escape of his managerial career.

The veteran coach has previous when it comes to miraculous escapes, successfully steering Fulham and West Brom away from danger having arrived with both sides struggling.

But he joined Palace with no points from their opening seven games, the worst start to a campaign in Premier League history. 

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The Eagles climbed off the bottom of the table for the first time on Saturday after a 0-0 draw against West Brom, but Hodgson stressed that securing safety by the end of this season would likely represent his best escape.

"Yes it probably would be," he said, quoted by the Daily Mail. "West Brom were heading for the relegation zone but we did well and took 20 points from 12 games to not only stay up but finish 11th.

"At Fulham they were doing pretty badly when I came and they were doing a damn sight worse when we lost my first three games. We had to pull ourselves out of a hole and that was a great escape.

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"But the seven games, zero points is probably as big a shot in the foot as you are ever going to get in the Premier League."

He added: "What I didn’t realise was we would get that degree of work out of them,’ he said. ‘It reminded me a little of the Bobby Zamora, Andy Johnson combination that I benefited from for so long at Fulham.

"We have to be realistic we are not going to be Man City or Man Utd. We have to try and climb out of the hole we have dug ourselves by being be gritty, hard-working and defending with 11."