City were cruising and looked set to claim all three points on Saturday after Jack Grealish and Rico Lewis put the home side 2-0 up at the Etihad, but a late Jean-Phillipe Mateta goal changed all that.
And after Phil Foden fouled Mateta in the box, Michael Olise scored from the sport in injury time to earn a point for a Palace side that have been out of form and ravaged by injuries.
Given City’s 75% possession, 19 shots and nine on target, Pep Guardiola was understandably furious with his players after the match, but Hodgson was nothing but delighted – and was even caught laughing at his opposite number after the penalty was scored.
Explaining how he masterminded such a shock result, the Eagles boss said: ‘I was really pleased with the team, from the first minute to the last, for the way that the players stuck to a gameplan and tried to make it work, and cause at least Man City a few more problems in terms of creating chances than they are sometimes used to.
‘It wasn’t just a question of resilience – it was a question of spirit and determination as well. If we’d have wanted excuses for a defeat today, we had loads and loads of them.
‘When you’ve seven players injured and five of them are regulars in the attacking positions, we’ve got even more reason to say “well done today” boys.
‘Our first goal changed things really. Michael Olise was posing a few questions with his skill when he got up into that half of the field and I thought Jean-Philippe Mateta was excellent all through the game with his running and holding the ball up.
‘But of course, when you’re playing Manchester City in the form they’re in and with the quality of players they have, you’ve got to accept that patience is going to be the key.
‘They’re going to have the ball a lot more than you and if you start trying to take chances and attack them too early, then they’re going to cut through you.
‘As it happens, we got to 2-1 which gave us some hope I suppose and we then thought, we’ll take a few chances now and we will have a go at it and luckily it paid off for us.
‘The masterplan was decided by the fact we had to get our best and most senior players on the pitch, because we have so many missing. It meant finding a way of getting both [Joel] Ward and [Nathaniel] Clyne on the field. We did that by moving Ward in one and played with five at the back.
‘Then we decided to take the risk on [subbing on Eberechi] Eze. We wouldn’t have done it at 2-0 and we thought at 2-1 it was worth the risk.’
The result leaves City fourth in the table, with Liverpool, Arsenal and Aston Villa all ahead of them and all set to play on Sunday.
Should leaders Liverpool beat arch-rivals Manchester United they’ll move six points clear of the Citizens who will now head off to Saudi Arabia for the Club World Cup.
Palace meanwhile are 15th in the table, albeit eight points clear of the relegation zone, and Hodgson will be planning his next big result as they prepare to face rivals Brighton on Thursday.
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