‘£50m or £60m...’ - Roy Hodgson makes reference to Newcastle United transfer spending

Crystal Palace boss Roy Hodgson has praised Newcastle United’s transfer business - admitting Eddie Howe’s squad aren’t “all superstars”.

Newcastle welcome Hodgson and his Eagles side to St James’ Park this afternoon (kick-off 3pm) hoping to extend their unbeaten run to eight matches.

Three straight defeats in the opening month of the new campaign sees the Magpies sit four points off fourth spot, the position they finished in last season to seal Champions League qualification.

Indeed, increased expectations on Tyneside is a testament to the job head coach Howe has carried out. In the two years since his appointment, United have gone from battling relegation to playing on Europe’s most elite stage.

And one area that has really impressed 76-year-old Hodgson in that time is Newcastle’s dealings in the transfer market.

“I don’t think Eddie’s success is due to the fact he’s gone and bought a new team by splashing out enormous sums of money,” said the former England boss.

“They’ve bought some very good players and good players do cost money but they’ve had to pay the asking price for those players.

“I would say looking in from the outside, he and Dan Ashworth [sporting director] have built a very good team and brought players into the club that suit the philosophy and made the team better.

“They’re not all superstars or players that have cost £50million or £60m but the ones they have bought for a bit more money have been perfect for their team and the way Eddie wants the team to play.

“I think he’s done an outstanding job because when he came in they were fighting relegation. Now they’re in the Champions League. You can’t do much better than that when you get given a chance to take on a club of Newcastle’s stature.

“They have such incredible support. Newcastle is very much a one-city team. All they care about is Newcastle United and that puts a lot of pressure on the coaches and players to produce a winning team and that’s exactly what he’s done so hats off to him.”

Despite United’s high finish last term, Howe’s side have found it difficult to play against Palace with all three meetings in 22-23 ended up goalless.

And heading into the match, just one point and one place separate the two teams in the top-flight table.

Hodgson added: “Both teams are well organised defensively. I don’t think either team is an easy team to score against. You’re only as good as the opponents allow you to be. We know we’ll have to work really hard if you want to create goal chances against this very strong Newcastle team.

“There’s no reason why we should go there and think otherwise but each game is a new story. I think it’s very dangerous to try and project onto a new story. That result [v Man United] should give the team some confidence.

“That was a difficult game, 75,000 people - there was a lot of pressure from the crowd. The same will happen against Newcastle, their back from the 50,000 is quite incredible but we know we are capable of dealing with those things.”