ROY HODGSON’S Crystal Palace took points from the defending champions for the second season in a row, drawing at Eastlands on Saturday.

Cenk Tosun gave the visitors the lead before they faced a barrage of attacks from Manchester City which saw Sergio Aguero net a brace.

A late foray from Wilfried Zaha resulted in a cross along the six-yard box which was turned into his own net by Fernandinho to give Palace a point.

Hodgson was pleased with the performance but doesn’t think their approach is necessarily different to others who face Pep Guardiola’s side.

“I don’t think we have a different approach or attitude to any other team that comes here,” he said.

“With the quality they have it’s a strong line-up and a strong bench, almost the opposite to where we find ourselves, so you know you are going to face a strong team.

“You are going to have to work hard, you need a little bit of luck and you need to ask questions of them when you do get time on the ball.

“I’m not claiming for one minute that it’s something that only Crystal Palace can do and something only I as a coach have thought of, but I am proud of the win here last year and perhaps even more proud of the draw here this year.”

Tosun, who scored the opening goal on his first start for the club, arrived from Everton this January and appeared to fit perfectly into this Palace line-up alongside Wilfried Zaha.

Hodgson revealed the striker is someone who has long been on the radar of the club’s sporting director Dougie Freedman since his days at Besiktas, and they took the chance to sign him when he became available this month.

“The credit for Cenk Tosun should go to Dougie Freedman,” said the Palace boss.

“We do quite a lot of scouting for centre-forwards, but we don’t end up buying them for whatever reason. 

“Cenk Tosun was someone we scouted two years ago in the Jan transfer window. Dougie had watched him play for Besiktas and was of the opinion he would be a good player for Palace to buy.

“Dougie never lost faith in him and was keen to jump at that chance and he convinced me, as I haven’t seen much of him, to be frank, but I was delighted with what I saw today.”