Roy:We can win without Zaha

ROY HODGSON has rubbished talk that Crystal Palace have a hang-up about being without Wilfried Zaha.

The facts suggest otherwise. The Eagles have a truly shocking record of 18 defeats in the last 20 matches that were missed by their inspirational talisman.

That includes their last two league outings – a 2-0 loss at

Leeds and 3-0 home thumping by Burnley.

And the bad news is Zaha is definitely out of tomorrow’s trip to Brighton with his hamstring injury.

Hodgson (above, with Zaha), while conceding the stats make awful reading, denies Palace players have a mental block when the Ivory Coast ace is unavailable.

Indeed, if anything, they are even more pumped up because they are so desperate to silence the snipers.

The Eagles boss claimed: “There can be no doubt about that. They’d be the first to tell you.

“We appreciate Wilfried and how good it is to have him in the team, but they’d all say, ‘We’re good enough to win without him’.

“Unfortunately, these stats work against us. God is on the side of the statisticians on this one. That’s the problem. You get a clear fact that nobody can deny.

“But, frankly, I don’t see people going into the game thinking, ’We have no chance to win today without him’.

“Sometimes, it’s the opposite. I see an extra motivation that we have to get rid of this.

“As much as we love Wilfried, it’s a bit of a negative for the rest of us to bear this criticism. So, it adds to our motivation rather than detracts.

“But it’s something we have to live with – and maybe for another few matches.

“It’s down to those who do play to make sure they get the results where we can, for a period, to lay the observation to rest.”

As for putting the record straight by beating bitter rivals Brighton, three points behind Palace after a six-game unbeaten run, Hodgson is under no illusions.

“Their position in the table belies their quality. They’re an excellent team. We have a big, big job to get the result we want,” added the former England manager.