Roy: We can win without Zaha

ROY HODGSON has denied claims his Crystal Palace side cannot cope without Wilfried Zaha.

The Eagles have lost 18 of the last 20 matches their star forward has missed and injured Zaha (right) is out of tomorrow’s trip to Brighton.

Palace boss Hodgson concedes the stats are awful but insists his players are even more pumped up to silence the snipers. He said: “We appreciate Wilfried and how good it is to have him in the team but the players would all say, ‘We’re good enough to win without him’. They would be the first to tell you that.

“Unfortunately, these stats work against us. God is on the side of the statisticians on this one, that’s the problem.’’

Hodgson, however, is under no illusions about the task they face at Brighton and added: “Their position in the table belies their quality. We have a big, big job to get the result we want.”

RONNIE O’SULLIVAN says he is playing in more tournaments this season to beat boredom.

The Rocket, 45, has cherrypicked his events in recent years in a bid to avoid burnout.

But the coronavirus pandemic has left the six-time world champion little option but to play just to get out of the house.

O’sullivan said: “I’m playing in more tournaments now than I usually would because there’s nothing else to do.

“I don’t want to be sitting around the house doing nothing all day, so practising helps me make something of my day.”

O’sullivan has failed to fire this season, losing in big finals to Judd Trump and Mark Selby.

He added: “It’s strange really because everyone else is more interested in my form than I am.

“It’s always nice to play well, but I’m not too bothered about how well I play really.’’