Roy Hodgson Hails Crystal Palace's Battling Qualities After Eagles Fightback to Earn Arsenal Point

Roy Hodgson praised his Crystal Palace side's battling qualities after they came from behind to draw 2-2 with Arsenal on Sunday. Palace took the lead through a

Roy Hodgson praised his Crystal Palace side's battling qualities after they came from behind to draw 2-2 with Arsenal on Sunday.

Palace took the lead through a Luka Milivojevic penalty, but seemed destined for defeat after goals from Granit Xhaka and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang put the visitors ahead 10 minutes into the second half. However, Milivojevic bailed out his side with a second penalty moments away from the final whistle to earn the home side a point.

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After the game, Hodgson discussed how proud he was of his players to overcome what they felt to be a poor decision, when Alexandre Lacazette appeared to handle in the build up to Aubameyang's goal.

"It wasn't exactly a touch of the hand, but one which helped the ball to the player who scored," he said, as per Sky Sports.

"It was tremendous that the players came back from that. It's not easy having led at the interval and then found ourselves trailing 2-1. To find ourselves behind, but come back to force an equaliser; the players deserve a lot of praise.

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"Our offensive players were more noticeable than Arsenal's, and that's great credit to my team.

"Two good pieces of play led to Arsenal being forced to commit a foul in the penalty area. For the two goals, the amount of possession we had in the final third, two goals is a fairly scant reward."

Hodgson also noted the bravery of Milivojevic, who stepped up to score both penalties despite missing from the spot for Palace against Everton last week.

"To step up again in two important situations was great credit to Luka.

"It's not just about technique in those situations. It's a question of mental strength. You need players with that mental strength to step up."