Crystal Palace boss Roy Hodgson jumped to the support of Julian Speroni after an error led to Liverpool scoring in their 4-3 defeat.

His misjudged punch at James Milner's cross resulted in a tap-in for Mohamed Salah's second and Liverpool's crucial third – a moment Hodgson described as “the cruelty of football showing itself as its absolute most wicked."

He added: “There aren't many better club servants than Julian Speroni at any football club in the world. For him to make that kind of mistake was really unfortunate and put Liverpool undeservedly back in the lead.

"We've got to consider ourselves hard done by in that respect."