Boss Hodgson hails Ayew for weekend display

Crystal Palace boss Roy Hodgson praised Jordan Ayew following his performance in the win at Manchester United but the striker could be back on the bench for the Carabao Cup clash with Colchester.

The 27-year-old was a key part of Hodgson’s game plan on Saturday and capped an all-round impressive display with the opening goal in the Eagles’ surprise 2-1 victory.

It remains to be seen whether the Ghanaian forward will feature against the U’s on Tuesday night – he has started two of Palace’s three Premier League games so far – but Hodgson hailed Ayew for his application at Old Trafford.

“He was unlucky to lose his place when I wanted to play two front players and I chose Wilf (Zaha) to partner Christian Benteke rather than him,” said Hodgson, who is likely to ring the changes against Colchester.

“He would have been quite entitled to say ‘I played quite well against Everton’ but there was no doubt in my mind that I was going to bring him back for the United game.

“And basically he had a very specific job to do, apart from of course being a good centre-forward, holding the ball up, beating players when he can and scoring goals; he had another very important job to do: making sure Paul Pogba couldn’t come deep and spread passes all around the play.”