Roy Hodgson and Wilfried Zaha reunited with survival on the line at Crystal Palace

Despite a run of disappointing results, Hodgson is staying positive as the relegation battle heats up

Wilfried Zaha remains vital to Palace's hopes of staying up (Getty)

Wilfried Zaha had been on the pitch only a minute or so when he took his first touch of the ball, skipped past a Chelsea defender and, in a split-second, reminded his struggling teammates just how much they had missed him.

The Ivorian’s return, 45 minutes into a defeat at Chelsea, was the major bright moment in a game in which his side were swept away but still nearly stole a point. It was a fourth defeat in a row, and their seventh without victory, but Crystal Palace have reason to be hopeful now more than ever despite a worrying run of results and a slide into the relegation zone.

Despite succumbing to three consecutive defeats against Tottenham, Manchester United and Chelsea, the nature of those losses offers Palace some hope.

The Eagles pressed and harried and defended for 88 minutes of the Spurs game and 94 of the United one before conceding gut-wrenching deciders. Roy Hodgson’s men largely matched United, held Spurs and were then dominated at Stamford Bridge, but still came within centimetres of a point. Those signs are good, regardless of the points total.

“We’ve just suffered three straight defeats against top teams but on each occasion we haven’t discredited ourselves in any way,” said Hodgson.

“We have nothing to be ashamed of in any of the performances, and there’s only one half of those six that I feel we’ve been below the level that we believe we can reach.

“It’s very clear to me and the players what we have to do in these last eight games, and it will be to reproduce five of these last six halves that we’ve produced to make certain that we leave no stone unturned in our fight to stay in the league.”

What awaits now is a run where there will be an expectation of victories, and a need for them, too.

Zaha returned to action for Palace at the weekend (Getty)

Having lost every game that Zaha has missed this season, the twinkle-toed winger’s return on Saturday was obviously a huge boost and he will soon be joined by Mamadou Sakho, Yohan Cabaye and Ruben Loftus-Cheek. A club short on options suddenly will have four first-teamers back including their match-winner, they have discovered a quality right-back in academy product Aaron Wan-Bissaka and new signing Alexandr Sorloth has flashed brightly against some of the Premier League’s elite.

“If that happens then my squad will be looking more like the squad I had just before Christmas, and give me options tactically in terms of personnel which I’ve not had in the last three or four weeks,” Hodgson said.

“It’s a great credit to the players – I can’t speak highly enough of the back four because they’ve been all we’ve got but they’ve done a fantastic job.”

A trip to Huddersfield next week is the first of a number of six-pointers as the relegation battle plays out. The Terriers’ opening-day win at Selhurst Park was the first day of Palace’s Frank De Boer nightmare and sparked a seven-game losing streak that nearly relegated them by Halloween. Hodgson - and Zaha - have been instrumental in even giving the Eagles a chance of survival heading into this final stretch. Now they are reunited with survival on the line.