Roy Hodgson believes Watford ‘hard done by’ as relegation from Prem confirmed

Roy Hodgson believes his side were hard done by as they were relegated from the Premier League following a 1-0 defeat to Crystal Palace. 

A penalty converted by Wilfried Zaha proved to be the only difference as Watford suffered their 25th league defeat of the season. The result means the Hornets join Norwich as the second side to be relegated in the 2021/22 Premier League campaign. But Hodgson insisted that the result could’ve been different had decisions not gone against them.

Speaking to BBC Match of the Day, he said: “It wasn’t the result we wanted but I think we were rather hard done by because the players are convinced that Hassane Kamara was pushed in the back and that’s what provoked the penalty decision. But I don’t feel hard done by the team’s performance.

“I thought they did extremely well against a very good Crystal Palace team. We remained competitive right to the end. Given our situation, I think that’s a sterling effort from the players.”

The result left Watford on 22 points after 35 games. This made it mathematically impossible for them to escape the relegation zone.

Relegation seemed likely throughout the season at Watford. However, Hodgson insisted that he didn’t think bottom three was inevitable prior to the game.

When asked, he said:  “I don’t think so. I think after missing our chances in those three home games we realised we were making life extremely hard for ourselves.

“But anyone who’d like to say there was an inevitability about our outcome and that the players had resigned themselves to the fact that they’re going to go down then they haven’t watched today’s game.

“It gave no indication of that whatsoever. We were fighting right until the last minute to try to get an equaliser.

Roy Hodgson believes Watford will bounce back

Hodgson revealed earlier this week that he would not be managing Watford next season.

The veteran coach is expected to take a break from football. However, he has not confirmed if he will return to management in the future.

Nevetheless, Hodgson believes that whoever replaces him at the club will take charge of a squad capable of bouncing right back to the top flight.

He said: “I still think today there are signs that the players have taken on board a lot of the work we have done. I think the structure of the team is now as good as we can get it.

“There are individuals in the team who can make a difference as well. Their confidence might not be at the highest. But I still think this team and this club has a lot to offer in the Premier League. But they’ll first have to go through the Championship to get back.”

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