Crystal Palace boss Roy Hodgson was left delighted after their 2-0 win at Southampton.

Both goals were struck by Eberichi Eze.

Hodgson later said: “I enjoyed the second-half, where I think we played better.

“Southampton were very good in the first-half. They were all the things I would expect a team fighting for their lives near the bottom of the league, in a home game [to be]. They played with a lot of energy, intensity and runs in behind us, and they stretched our defensive capacity to the hilt.

“Luckily, we got through that, largely thanks to a back four did a really, really good job under that sort of pressure. In the second-half we tweaked one or two things, and were able to get back to the sort of football I was hoping to see for the whole 90 minutes. It turned out to be enough because of Eze's two goals.

“At half-time, all we can do is remind people of a few things we agreed to do from the start, but hadn't got round to doing yet. That's all we can do. Goals change games, and Eze's two goals put us in such a commanding position.

“When you get in a commanding position, and you're the team that doesn't have the knife at your throat, you're capable of playing the sort of football that we did, and we did have a few opportunities to score one or two more goals."

While many plaudits went to Eze, Jordan Ayew also excelled at St Mary's, with Hodgson noting: “I think he knows us and we know him. He feels comfortable with what we're asking him to do. He knows if he continues to do what we consider to be the right things, we'll back him up and get behind him.

“He's repaying us by playing so well because today, especially in the first half, when things weren't going that well, him and [Jeffrey] Schlupp played a very important role in midfield well, and the back four was excellent throughout and the goalkeeper [Sam Johnstone] when called upon.

“If we can keep clean sheets we'll certainly pick up more points, because I wouldn't want to be playing against a Palace team with the sort of players we have, knowing we might not score a goal. It's a big strength that we have and we've got to keep working on those strengths – and we will."