SANCHEZ BACK TO HAUNT PALACE
Hodgson wary of Alexis as Palace face their bogey team
CRYSTAL PALACE start their nightmare month against bogey-team Manchester United tonight, with Alexis Sanchez back at Selhurst Park to haunt them.
Roy Hodgson’s injury-hit side have slipped back into the bottom three after a run of five games without a win – and have never beaten the Reds in the Premier League era.
And while Hodgson is still without his talisman Wilf Zaha, Jose Mourinho can deploy Sanchez (above), who scored his last goals for Arsenal in a matchwinning double in south London back in December (below).
“We are going to be playing against a very good player and, if we give him a lot of time and space, and a lot of opportunities to do the things he is good at, he is likely to succeed,” said Eagles boss Hodgson.
“We know he can create goals. We know he is a very busy, hard-working player, who is not going to give up easily. I can’t make any comparisons about his style at United and his style at Arsenal.
“I don’t follow them that closely. What I see of United is on Match of the Day, and you know from Match of the
Day there is as much talking and analysis as what you see from the excerpts that are edited from the game.
“Unfortunately, for us, he’s one of many good players that United possess, so life for us could perhaps have been a bit easier if he was their only good player. But he is far from that.
“My hope would be to see the place rocking, because that would mean we would be buzzing around the United penalty area a few times, as that’s what gets the fans going.” Palace also face visits to Chelsea and Huddersfield before hosting Liverpool in their ‘Mad March’. They are likely to spend Easter in the drop zone – and needing a repeat of the great escapes Hodgson (left) conjured at Fulham and West Brom.
“We will need a similar run here, there is no doubt about that,” said the former England boss. “Any teams who are going to avoid relegation will have strong ends to the season.
You have got to string results together.
“I remember both periods (at Fulham and Albion) very strongly – the enormous joy and satisfaction that the players and the whole club felt, having overcome a very difficult obstacle, and come out the other side smelling of roses.”