Crystal Palace boss knows there are no quick solutions to scoring issues as Chelsea lie in wait at the Bridge
Roy Hodgson reckons there is no easy fix for Crystal Palace’s scoring issues.
Only rock bottom Watford (six) and Newcastle United (nine) have scored fewer goals than the Eagles (10) this season in the Premier League.
Jordan Ayew has netted four times in 10 appearances but other offensive players like Wilfried Zaha and Christian Benteke are yet to open their accounts.
Midfielder Luka Milivojevic and left-back Patrick van Aanholt have weighed in with two apiece – although the former’s have both been penalties.
Palace had weighed up a move for Brentford’s Ollie Watkins in the summer but did not strike a deal for the 23-year-old, who has bagged 10 goals in 15 Championship games.
Asked about the Eagles lacking goalscorers in their ranks after Sunday’s 2-0 loss to Leicester, Hodgson replied: “That has been the case the last two years, nothing has changed in that respect. We know that.
“The lads are doing their best but we aren’t perhaps as blessed as some teams with a plethora of goalscorers that can make chances and take chances out of nothing.
“We have to work very hard for our chances.
“With the players we have to work with, I don’t think scoring lots of goals is necessarily something we are going to be able to boast that we’ve done too often.”
Palace recently announced Benteke had signed a new deal. The 28-year-old netted once in 16 appearances last season and three times in 31 matches in the 2017-18 campaign.
The most free-scoring frontman on their books is Alexander Sorloth, with the Norwegian plundering nine goals in 19 games this season while on loan at Trabzonspor.
But the £9million signing from Midtjylland looked well short of Premier League level before being allowed to head out of SE25 – his only Palace goal coming in a 1-0 win at Swansea in the EFL Cup in August 2018.
Hodgson has handed Victor Camarasa just five minutes of Premier League football since his loan arrival from Real Betis in August.
The Spaniard did play all of the EFL Cup humbling by Colchester.
PICTURE BY KEITH GILLARD
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