Hodgson: 'Benteke deserves starting place'

Benteke is the club's record signing, after joining from Liverpool for £27m in 2016, though only hit the net three times last season. 

The Belgian also missed several chances as Palace were beaten 2-0 by Southampton on Saturday. 

Hodgson remarked: "Of course the moment may well come when we think, 'Better do something about this'.

"And, as we get players back fit like Wilf Zaha and Tomkins, the options will become greater.

"It depends what your options are, doesn't it? We still consider [Benteke] to be our best option in that position.

"Had we had other options, maybe we might have considered those too.

"All the time he is working as hard as he is and trying as hard, it might not be the right moment.

"We encourage him as best we can. We encourage him to concentrate hard on the things he can do. We encourage him to realise that it is not just about scoring goals."