Roy Hodgson defended Crystal Palace’s Wilfried Zaha amid fan criticism after his performance in their 2-0 defeat to Chelsea on Saturday.

The Eagles fell to second half strikes from Tammy Abraham and Christian Pulisic in a scoreline that flattered Hodgson’ men.

Zaha, 27, remained a peripheral figure for much of the contest much to the dismay of the Palace faithful.

Selhurst Park’s crown jewel cut a frustrated figure in Hodgson’s 300th game in charge in a Premier League fixture and there are those believing that the club would be better off without him.

His manager however put his support behind the Palace Academy graduate, praising the commitment Zaha has shown this season while indicating there’s too much expected from him.

“Wilf is doing what he needs to do for the team, he’s working hard,” Hodgson said.

“Against Arsenal he was incredible, maybe against Leicester or Chelsea he wasn’t at his best, but that’s what football is.

“They’re human beings.

“Sometimes you can’t legislate why they don’t have the good game they or you would like, but what you can legislate is the work he’s putting in and the effort to execute and play the teams game plan.

“And in that respect I think Wilf was as good as anybody out there.”

Defeat at Stamford Bridge dropped Palace to tenth in the league table, and after a positive start to the season fans are beginning to feel they should be getting more from their star-man, whilst some put the blame squarley on the managers shoulders.