Roy Hodgson hoping Fulham's Great Escape can help aid Crystal Palace's

In April of 2008 Hodgson's Fulham side avoided the drop after coming from behind to beat City. The former England manager is hoping his current side can use that as inspiration on Saturday

Roy Hodgson was subject to a defeat in his first game in charge at Palace (Getty)

It was April 2008 when Roy Hodgson’s Fulham were in a mess so bad that Crystal Palace’s current predicament looks meaningless in comparison. We are currently just five games into the Premier League season, and not even into October. At half-time a game at what was then called ‘Eastlands’, Fulham were 2-0 behind Manchester City and going down.

What happened next? Diomansy Kamara scored two and Danny Murphy the other, and Fulham won 3-2. They stayed up on the last day of the season and went on to reach the Europa League final in 2010. Hodgson would later manage Liverpool, West Bromwich Albion and England. And less than 10 years on, he is heading back to Manchester City hoping to kindle another resurgence.

Hodgson was asked about that famous day at his Friday afternoon press conference in Beckenham. He said that things had got so bad for his Fulham team that the pressure was released. “We were roundly outplayed in the first half in that game, 2-0 down and it could have been more,” he said. "I remember saying at half-time ‘right, it’s 2-0, all we can do is try to win the second half.’

“It was a rousing second half performance. That might have been a situation where the pressure was off. Because at 2-0 at half time, had that scoreline stayed, we were relegated, even with three games to go.”

So will there be a repeat at the Etihad Stadium on Saturday? That was a very different time for City: they were owned by Thaksin Shinawatra, managed by Sven-Goran Eriksson and had Elano at right-back. “We thought the Man City team of that team was a bit of a star-studded amalgam of a lot of players playing in the top teams in Europe,” Hodgson said. “You’d have to say now, I think, they can pluck all the best ones if they like. If they want a right-back, who’s one of the best right-backs, if they want a left-back, who’s one of the best left-backs. I don’t know that Sven had quite that level of firepower.”

But City have not looked unbeatable, and all it will take for Palace is one win to transform the feel. “We were doomed, week after week, we just kept believing,” Hodgson said. “We had a nice campaign that Mohammed [al-Fayed] started, about keeping the faith and believing. The fans were terrific, they got behind us, even in games we weren’t able to win. They were using their clappers to make noise.”

What Hodgson and Palace have to give their fans is something to get excited about when they host Chelsea on 14 October after these difficult games against the Manchester sides, with United up next Saturday. At some point they will have to win. “What helped improve the belief of the fans and the players was winning matches,” he said. “And that is the only thing you can really do.”