Roy Hodgson believes even the 'most ardent' Newcastle United fan would be 'hard pushed' to say Crystal Palace were lucky to beat the Magpies on Saturday.
The Eagles leapfrogged the black-and-whites in the table following a 1-0 win at Selhurst Park and the scoreline flattered the visitors, who only had two efforts on target - which were both shots from distance.
Palace, in contrast, had a host of chances to open the scoring before Patrick van Aanholt finally broke the deadlock with a free-kick just before half-time.
Martin Dubravka made impressive saves to deny Gary Cahill and Scott Dann and later kept Newcastle in the game after preventing Jordan Ayew from doubling Palace's advantage in the second half.
Palace more than deserved their victory - Hodgson's first in the league in 2020 - following a run of three successive defeats in the Premier League.
"Three straight defeats is always a possibility in this league," Hodgson told reporters after the game. "Maybe not for Liverpool or Manchester City or even maybe Chelsea and Tottenham.
"For the rest of us, I'm afraid, three defeats is always on the cards if you're unlucky or things don't go your way so today to get a victory against a close rival and get it as well in a fairly dominant way because I think even the most ardent Newcastle fan would be hard pushed to say Crystal Palace were lucky today.
"We were desperately unlucky at Newcastle - we lost 1-0 - and if favour had been kinder, we would have had six points."
