There is nothing Wilfried Zaha enjoys more than riling his critics, and he certainly has many among the Brighton support.
As always with opposing fans against Crystal Palace, the Ivorian is the target of most of their vitriol and he often provides an answer.
With the Eagles ailing here and looking unlikely to find a way back level, Zaha only needed one spell to find his way through. With Palace finally starting to create some openings and apply a little pressure, captain Luka Milivojevic found the talisman down the left-hand side, Brighton naturally tried to show Zaha onto his weaker left foot.
But that is no guarantee of safety. Zaha darted and fired a cracker past Mat Ryan. The Palace academy graduate has now scored more goals - tonight was his sixth - against Brighton than any other side.
There are more famous strikes, the Championship play-off brace in 2013 wrote him into club folklore there and then, but once more Zaha came up trumps when it mattered.
Benteke makes his case
It had looked like it would be another case of a chance missed for the ailing Belgian here.
Benteke was handed his first start in the Premier League since August as he came in for the injured Andros Townsend and with just the one Palace goal to his name since the start of last season.
He has notched three for Belgium so far this season but has desperately struggled for game time under Hodgson, despite Palace have scored so few goals.
It took a while for the former Liverpool man to get going. With Palace struggling to gain any sort of hold over the game the hosts had to wait until the 70th minute until their striker guided a header towards Mat Ryan to register the first shot on target of the evening. Before that, however, Benteke almost got lucky as a burst down the right saw his cross drift over Ryan and clatter the far post.
Minutes after his header, Benteke was testing Ryan again, fizzing a low effort at the near post which the Australian just about managed to turn behind from a corner.
After Zaha had struck level for Palace, the hosts continued to push, Benteke holding up well and playing in to the path of James McCarthy, who cried for a penalty when brought down.
There was to be no first goal of the season, but after months out in the cold, Benteke can be forgiven for looking to make small steps on his way back in. Perhaps Hodgson has something to think about up top once more.
Rotten return for Riedewald
Jairo Riedewald was handed his first Premier League start since February 2018 as he came in as third-choice left-back following injuries to both Patrick van Aanholt and Jeffrey Schlupp in recent weeks.
The time away from first-team action certainly showed. The Dutchman coped well enough when having to come off the bench for the second half against Watford last weekend, but Brighton are a far sharper opponent and Riedewald looked well off the pace.
The former Ajax man, signed under Frank de Boer and almost forgotten under Hodgson, was lucky not to have conceded a penalty when, after being caught out of position, he rushed back and clipped Martin Montoya. Martin Atkinson, the VAR, took a look and decided that it was not a clear and obvious error and thus no penalty was given. Quite the let off.
Having looked exhausted at the break it was no surprise to see Riedewald replaced before the restart, James McArthur - Palace’s third makeshift left-back in two games - dropping in to cover.
Injuries pile up
Crystal Palace started the night on the back foot with the conformation that neither Gary Cahill or Andros Townsend were fit to make the squad here. Hodgson had hinted last week that there were two players close to joining the injury list, though was not willing to name either.
Cahill has been Palace’s player of the season - and arguably the signing of the season in the Premier League - since his arrival on a free transfer from Chelsea over the summer, while Townsend has been working his way back into form having been dropped earlier this season.
With Hodgson already having to name a makeshift back four, the growing injury list makes for painful reading ahead of the festive run.
“We've got six first-team players missing, the worst injury crisis we've had since I've been at the club,” Hodgson told Sky Sports.
“We'd already lost both of our full-backs and now we've lost our cover as well. We've lost Gary Cahill to injury, Sakho to suspension, Andros Townsend and Jeffrey Schlupp to injury, Joel Ward is still out.
"This is the team we can field and if you look at the substitutes there are three players on there who haven't played a first-team match.”
