Cheikhou Kouyate's was 'magnificent' in Crystal Palace's makeshift defence in their 1-0 win over Bournemouth according to Roy Hodgson.

The midfielder slotted seamlessly into the backline alongside James Tomkins on 20 minutes after Mamadou Sakho was shown a straight red for his foul on Adam Smith.

With Scott Dann, Gary Cahill and Joel Ward all unavailable through injury, and Martin Kelly filling in at right back, it left Hodgson with no alternative than to push the rangy Senegal man into his back four.

Down to ten-men and conceding the lion’s share of possession, Palace withstood a barrage of Bournemouth attacks and thanks to Tomkins and Kouyate held on to a clean sheet with, in truth, relative comfort.

“That’s probably one of the biggest understatements I have come across, that Kouyate didn’t do a bad job!” Hodgson said.

“I thought he was outstanding and he did a magnificent job.

“Where we have been strong is at centre-back, with good competition for places.

“But then blow me down, we lost Gary Cahill before the Burnley game, Scott Dann in the Burnley game and now we have had Mamadou Sakho sent off after a few minutes.

“It’s amazing, I was thinking I will be spoilt for choice, but all of a sudden, we are asking Cheikhou Kouyate to go back and do a wonderful job, which he did.”

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Despite Kouyate’s impressive display at the back, Hodgson will be hoping one or both of Dann and Cahill will be available for Saturday’s trip to strugglers Watford.

“I don’t know, it is a very short turn around between Saturday and Tuesday.

“Scott Dann’s ankle is still swollen so we are still waiting for a scan, so it was a bit early to tell.

“Gary Cahill will get a chance tomorrow to try it out a bit before we train on Thursday, but I am certainly not writing either of them off.

“I am hoping they will recover in time, but I really won’t know until Thursday.”

READ: REPORT: Crystal Palace 1 Bournemouth 0

READ: PLAYER RATINGS: Crystal Palace 1 Bournemouth 0

READ: Hodgson on Sakho's red card