Thursday 23 November 2017 16:02, UK
Crystal Palace boss Roy Hodgson believes it will take more than "a wave of the magic wand" to hoist themselves off the bottom of the Premier League.
Palace have won five points from their opening 12 games this season, a run which included seven consecutive defeats without scoring a goal.
Hodgson, who replaced Frank de Boer as manager of the club in September, admits the south London club face an uphill challenge to turn their form around but is optimistic "lady luck" is on their side.
"We've got five points from the last five games, if we'd have had 12 points from 12 games we wouldn't be quite disappointed as we are," said Hodgson.
"We are fighting the lost cause in the sense of it being a lost cause that we can't get it back from those first seven games when we took no points and scored no goals.
"We've always been aware in the squad that it's going to take more than just a wave of the magic wand to put that right."
Despite the Eagles winning only one league game this campaign, the former England boss has been boosted by signs of a resurgence within his squad.
Consecutive 2-2 draws at home to West Ham and Everton in recent weeks has led to frustration on the manager's part, due to missed chances, though he hopes that can be improved upon this weekend.
"We actually take some heart from the five points from five games because we think in those five games we've done enough as a team in terms of our playing to maybe get more points than those five," Hodgson added.
"And we're fully aware that we've got to continue at least in the same vein as we've done in the last five games and hope lady luck will be a little bit kinder to use than perhaps it's been in several of these last five matches."
With several weeks until the January transfer window opens, Hodgson is hoping to recruit reinforcements in a bid to turn Palace's fortunes around, starting with a goalkeeper to support Wayne Hennessey and Julian Speroni.
"I don't think it's totally up to be what business we do in the transfer window, that would be up to the club how much money they are prepared to invest," said Hodgson.
"They've already invested quite a lot of money in this squad of players that we have here. Of course, we are constantly on the look-out to see what strengthening we could possibly do to our team and which positions we might need it.
"Everybody knows we've got two senior goalkeepers at the club, one of whom is 38 years of age so I think right from the very start of the season people have been saying that Crystal Palace need at least one more goalkeeper. So I don't think that's a great secret."
Hodgson confirms he is close to having a fully-fit squad to select from for the arrival of Stoke City to Selhurst Park on Saturday, with just Lee Chung-yong and Connor Wickham the only absentees from the first-team squad.
