BY AYODELE ODUMADE AT SELHURST PARK

The Crystal Palace Manager Roy Hodgson was pleased that his team got a point out of their game against Arsenal, which ended 2-2 in a highly entertaining London Derby.

He said: “A draw is the least we deserved. Their second goal was from handball. Most people who watched it on TV will feel sympathy for us.  It was tremendous the way the players came back from that as it is not easy with the way we played in the first half. It was bad seeing our 1-0 lead wiped out in the space of 5 or 6 minutes in the second half.   The players deserve a lot of praise in my opinion.  We had two good pieces of play in open play, which led to the penalties.”

Luka Milvojevic stepped up to the plate having missed a decisive one last week. To step up again especially the second one to rescue a point is credit to Luka. With the amount of possession we had a draw is the least we deserved.”

He went on further to say: ”Considering Arsenal were on an 11 game unbeaten run I thought we did well. We kept them quiet today but I felt the one we did not keep quiet was Xhaka with his bullet of a free kick.  The players I had offensively today were much more noticed than the Arsenal players today and it is great credit to the quality of our defending.”  Pierre Aubameyang got Arsenal’s other goal.  

The Arsenal Manager Unai Emery was also satisfied with a point though his team made some mistakes today. He said:” The first half was not easy for us.  We did not have a good transition. I wanted to push and find the moment.  We need to keep the ball and have more control and not give away penalties. We lost the ball in their half and they scored from it. We made mistakes today but I also make mistakes. I wanted to push for another goal but the response was not good.”

The Arsenal captain Mesut Ozil was disappointed when he was subbed after having an off day and reacted badly to the decision. However the manager said: “ It is normal for a player not to be happy when they are subbed. I like to see that in players.”

I brought Danny Welbeck on because I wanted a good transition between the players. He is good for this situation.”

I think we are in a good position regarding our objective. I think we can improve. Palace is a good team and it is not easy for away team.”