Crystal Palace manager Roy Hodgson has said he is unsure what more he can do with his injury-plagued squad after Monday’s 2-0 loss at Wolverhampton Wanderers condemned them to a seventh straight Premier League defeat.
Palace were already missing five regular players and suffered another blow when defender Mamadou Sakho went off in the first half with a hamstring injury.
Defeat left Palace in 14th place on 42 points with one match left in the season, against Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday.
“You must not forget in these recent matches we have played some of the top teams in the country and we’re doing it with a weakened team,” Hodgson told the BBC.
“I don’t know what more we can do. I can’t magic players out of thin air. We have the squad we have.
“We’re not going to recover any of the injured players, it will be putting out the same players today on Sunday who are really tired and giving their all for the club.”
Hodgson said he hoped to improve the squad depth during the close season, particularly in attacking areas.
“An awful lot of things have not gone our way during this period of bad results but we have to face up to it and then in the summer find the players to reinforce us,” he added.
“The lack of strikers we have and lack of goal scorers— that has been a constant theme for the whole of the three seasons I’ve been at the club, so nothing changes.”
