“You have got to be wary of the words ‘lofty ambitions’,” Hodgson said at his pre-match press conference. “Look at the teams at the minute who are fighting relegation.
“It looks more and more obvious to me that, apart from Southampton – and that’s a big club, Southampton. They have had 11 years non-stop in the league and at one stage Southampton were regarded as a team just outside the top six, and they have been relegated.
“There is no doubt that at least two of Leicester, Everton, Nottingham Forest and Leeds [will be relegated]. Those are massive clubs. So before you start putting yourself in that lofty position where [you think]: ‘We are miles better than these clubs, these clubs are not in the same league as us because we are looking further’.
“Be very careful – if it can happen to those five, it can happen for us.”
Hodgson quoted the advice of an all-time great as a cautionary tale, but reiterated that Palace should be aiming higher at the start of every campaign.
“I never forget that in the Bill Shankly era at Liverpool, at the start of each season, he was asked: ‘What is your ambition for each season?’” Hodgson said. “His answer was: ‘To stay in the league’. If that is good enough for Bill Shankly, then it should be good enough for us.
“If you really want to hit the heights and you look at the Champions League and look at the type of teams up there and competing for it, their budgets and the amount of money spent at those clubs and the amount of resources they have, it would take a lot before we are able to get anywhere close to that.
“I have got to hope that this club is going to continue growing, this team is going to continue growing. I think if we keep playing as we have been playing, there is nothing to stop us having a better season next season and finishing higher, but be careful of lofty ambitions.”
Hodgson has experience of reaching the latter stages of the European competition with Fulham, and hopes that Palace can do the same one day.
“Reaching the final of one of the other competitions, the Europa League that we did at Fulham or the Conference [League] that West Ham have done, that is an achievement that is very well done,” he said.
“But it comes really when you have that little bit of extra which has lifted you from eighth, ninth or 10th to seventh or eighth. The difference is very small.
“You do know that if you are lucky enough to get one of those places as Fulham have proved and West Ham have proved, you can profit from that and end up with a European trophy in your cabinet, which I’m sure Crystal Palace would like very much.”
