Roy Hodgson demands display of pride and belief from Watford despite relegation

Roy Hodgson urged Watford to keep playing for pride after an instant return to the Sky Bet Championship was confirmed following Saturday’s 1-0 loss at Crystal Palace.

A winless run dating back to March 13 had left the Hornets on the brink before Wilfried Zaha’s first-half spot-kick at Selhurst Park sealed their fate with three games left.

Relegation-threatened Everton visit Vicarage Road on Wednesday, with Hodgson’s side eager to end an unwanted top-flight record of 11 consecutive losses at home.

The 74-year-old said: “We will try to do what we did against Crystal Palace.

“We have to go out there, believe in ourselves and prepare for the games so we know what Everton are going to come with and what we have to do to keep them out and what we need to do to get in behind them and score a couple of goals.

“We will work on that for a couple of days and then we will go out with the players and I will ask them to reproduce this performance because that was probably as good an away performance as we have given – it sits on a par with the Liverpool one where we also lost.

“That won’t be easy because it is a short turnaround and the players gave a lot. They will need a lot of tender love and care if they are going to go out on Wednesday night and give anything like the sort of performance they have done.

“I think we have showed what the team can do and we aren’t a hopeless case by any stretch of the imagination. Maybe, with hindsight, we can point to a few unlucky moments that turned the season against us.”

Hodgson has only tasted victory twice since he replaced Claudio Ranieri in January and recent late goals in home defeats to Brentford and Burnley have proved crucial.

Goalkeeper Ben Foster, who is out of contract this summer