Crystal Palace boss Roy Hodgson admits they're in a relegation battle after today's thrashing at Arsenal.

Palace were hammered 5-0 by the Gunners earlier today.

Hodgson said: "The worst thing is that three of the goals all came from corner kicks, two from theirs and one from one of ours and they started a very quick counter and 3-0 down you are up against it.

"I decided to give some of the younger players a chance on the basis we played in midweek and some of the players had worked very hard, but 3-0 down against a rampant Arsenal it was asking for trouble and asking for the two quite simple goals at the end.

"The fact is two of our major attacking players are not here at the moment, Eze is just coming back from injury. Our attacking potential is a bit less at the moment than it would be normally but I don't think we created anywhere near enough chances.

"Arsenal were very good. Whatever we would have done and whatever team we put on the field we would still have been struggling to contain them as they do have so much talent and are very well drilled.

"It is a struggle. There's no doubt we have to keep looking over our shoulder and we are in a relegation battle, no question about that. I believe the team and club and the group of players we have are more than good enough to get us away from the relegation zone. Of course at the start of the season we had hoped we would build on the end of last season."