Roy Hodgson conducted his pre-Chelsea press conference immediately following his post-match commitments after the 1-1 draw against Brighton & Hove Albion last week.
Ahead of the Eagles' trip to face Chelsea at Stamford Bridge on Wednesday (27th, 19:30 GMT kick-off), read on below to find out what the manager had to say about the game, early team news, and several key figures in his squad...
ON TEAM NEWS AHEAD OF CHELSEA…
“I don’t know [at this stage].
"[Sam] Johnstone I'm sure won't be [available]. [Odsonne] Edouard would have to surprise me – it doesn't look like that’s the situation at the moment.
“But to be fair, in those areas at the moment, we're doing well enough. The boys have come in and played in place of them and are doing well enough.
"I don't think there would be any reason for me to bemoan the fact they [Johnstone and Edouard] are not there, because if they were there, that might mean that [Dean] Henderson and [Jean-Philippe] Mateta didn't play. At the moment, those two fully deserve to play.
“Having said that, I'd be very delighted to get them back – the sooner the better. But I don't see that.
“[Cheick] Doucouré, of course, absolutely not. There's no chance of getting [Rob] Holding back or [Jesurun] Rak-Sakyi back, but our squad is looking a little bit more like it should do now anyway, because [with] another three or four days of training Eberechi Eze will be closer, if you like, to his true form, and then by the time we play Brentford even more so.”
ON THE THREAT POSED BY CHELSEA…
“When you look at their squad and their players, I think most teams will look at it and think this is going to be a very, very tough game because they’ve got some very, very good players.
“The thing about form is it could just be that some of the players are finding their feet at the club and playing as well as their reputations would suggest. Football, at any level, is not rocket science. If you are a very, very rich club and you have the ability to bring in players who actually cost a lot of money, that maybe other clubs can't afford, sooner or later there's a chance those players will start performing in the way that everyone expects them to perform.
“That's basically what we will have to expect. I don't think we'll go to Chelsea with them being frightened out their wits with the team that we can come with to play against them, but I also believe that we'll go there, and we'll give them as good a game as we've given the last three teams we've played, all of which are teams who are European teams. One's a European champion, the other one's a European champion a year ago, and Brighton are playing in European football after a very good season.
“There'll be other teams that we'll play in the league going forward that maybe don't have European ambitions and maybe haven't spent the sort of money that some of these other clubs have spent.”
ON CHELSEA’S OWN INJURY TROUBLES THIS SEASON…
“The big thing with injury lists is what you have behind it, how much you've been able to strengthen the squad so that [you know] who's going to go in in place of the player that has to come out.
“But all managers, I'm sure, would like to field what they think is their best team, so when there are injuries, that is problematic for them. I have every sympathy with coaches in that area.
“It's a part and parcel of the game and that's why of course the top teams, who are playing European football, need these very, very big squads. Sometimes you'll need players who would walk into many, many other teams on your bench because you play so many games.”
ON MICHAEL OLISE…
“Obviously every club needs that [magic]. We've been blessed with Wilf [Zaha] through the years, but now we have Olise, and also we have Eberechi Eze. We have two players who can do that job and who get the crowd buzzing.
“I think that the crowd were very good tonight [against Brighton]. They were very much behind the team. I think they'll recognise that there's some good moments ahead for this Football Club.”
ON MARC GUÉHI, A FORMER CHELSEA PLAYER…
“He's a very, very good player. I don’t how Chelsea would feel about seeing him play now and having let him go, you’d have to ask them that question, but we like him very much. We think he's outstanding player.
"We believe that with guys like him and [Joachim] Andersen, and guys like Eze and Olise, and with people like Edouard and Mateta and what they're doing this year, there's enough threat in our team to get us where we would like to be at the end of the season.”
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Ahead of the Eagles' trip to face Chelsea at Stamford Bridge on Wednesday (27th, 19:30 GMT kick-off), read on below to find out what the manager had to say about the game, early team news, and several key figures in his squad...
ON TEAM NEWS AHEAD OF CHELSEA…
“I don’t know [at this stage].
"[Sam] Johnstone I'm sure won't be [available]. [Odsonne] Edouard would have to surprise me – it doesn't look like that’s the situation at the moment.
“But to be fair, in those areas at the moment, we're doing well enough. The boys have come in and played in place of them and are doing well enough.
"I don't think there would be any reason for me to bemoan the fact they [Johnstone and Edouard] are not there, because if they were there, that might mean that [Dean] Henderson and [Jean-Philippe] Mateta didn't play. At the moment, those two fully deserve to play.
“Having said that, I'd be very delighted to get them back – the sooner the better. But I don't see that.
“[Cheick] Doucouré, of course, absolutely not. There's no chance of getting [Rob] Holding back or [Jesurun] Rak-Sakyi back, but our squad is looking a little bit more like it should do now anyway, because [with] another three or four days of training Eberechi Eze will be closer, if you like, to his true form, and then by the time we play Brentford even more so.”
ON THE THREAT POSED BY CHELSEA…
“When you look at their squad and their players, I think most teams will look at it and think this is going to be a very, very tough game because they’ve got some very, very good players.
“The thing about form is it could just be that some of the players are finding their feet at the club and playing as well as their reputations would suggest. Football, at any level, is not rocket science. If you are a very, very rich club and you have the ability to bring in players who actually cost a lot of money, that maybe other clubs can't afford, sooner or later there's a chance those players will start performing in the way that everyone expects them to perform.
“That's basically what we will have to expect. I don't think we'll go to Chelsea with them being frightened out their wits with the team that we can come with to play against them, but I also believe that we'll go there, and we'll give them as good a game as we've given the last three teams we've played, all of which are teams who are European teams. One's a European champion, the other one's a European champion a year ago, and Brighton are playing in European football after a very good season.
“There'll be other teams that we'll play in the league going forward that maybe don't have European ambitions and maybe haven't spent the sort of money that some of these other clubs have spent.”
ON CHELSEA’S OWN INJURY TROUBLES THIS SEASON…
“The big thing with injury lists is what you have behind it, how much you've been able to strengthen the squad so that [you know] who's going to go in in place of the player that has to come out.
“But all managers, I'm sure, would like to field what they think is their best team, so when there are injuries, that is problematic for them. I have every sympathy with coaches in that area.
“It's a part and parcel of the game and that's why of course the top teams, who are playing European football, need these very, very big squads. Sometimes you'll need players who would walk into many, many other teams on your bench because you play so many games.”
ON MICHAEL OLISE…
“Obviously every club needs that [magic]. We've been blessed with Wilf [Zaha] through the years, but now we have Olise, and also we have Eberechi Eze. We have two players who can do that job and who get the crowd buzzing.
“I think that the crowd were very good tonight [against Brighton]. They were very much behind the team. I think they'll recognise that there's some good moments ahead for this Football Club.”
ON MARC GUÉHI, A FORMER CHELSEA PLAYER…
“He's a very, very good player. I don’t how Chelsea would feel about seeing him play now and having let him go, you’d have to ask them that question, but we like him very much. We think he's outstanding player.
"We believe that with guys like him and [Joachim] Andersen, and guys like Eze and Olise, and with people like Edouard and Mateta and what they're doing this year, there's enough threat in our team to get us where we would like to be at the end of the season.”
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