Roy Hodgson conceded he and his Crystal Palace side are in an ‘unfortunate spell’ after a 2-0 defeat at Chelsea meant they’ve picked up just one point in their last four outings.

Second half strikes from Tammy Abraham and Christian Pulisic broke the Eagles resolve at Stamford Bridge and sent Frank Lampard’s men second in the league.

Despite defeat in Hodgson’s 300th game in charge in a Premier League encounter, the Palace boss felt his side were beaten by a side on a crest of a wave, buoyed by their 4-4 comeback heroics midweek.

“One can always hope after a Champions League week you meet a side a little jaded or not playing to their full potential, but that wasn’t the case” Hodson said.

"I thought we weathered the early storm well. We controlled an opponent in very good form.

"Eventually they scored a good goal, but the second goal was a little unfortunate as we were starting to grow into the game and looking a little bit likely ourselves.

“Then it was very difficult for us to get back into it.

"It's an unfortunate spell we find ourselves in, but I can't say I'm disappointed with our performance."

Palace conceded nearly 75% in the first half, allowing the Blues to play infront of their backline.

It was successful in the opening 45 with Gary Cahill and James Tomkins limiting Chelsea to long range efforts.

Joel Ward looked to be dealing with the threat of Pulisic admirably before injury forced the right back off the field shortly before the break.

There was an injury scare to Wilfried Zaha too who before gingerly seeing out the full 90 minutes.

“Someone stood on his foot, it’s quite painful,” Hodgson explained.

“He’s icing that part of the foot now but we’ll have to see if it’s anything more serious.”

Following results later in the day, Palace dropped to tenth ahead of the international break.