Discussing the Watford clash post-match with Palace TV, Hodgson said: "We knew this was going to be a very tough game for us due to the Watford situation [managerial change and bottom of the table] and secondly due to the fact we spent so much energy on Tuesday night.
"This game was always going to be a tough one against a rival and one you always have a battle with. I’m absolutely delighted with how the players were up for the battle and how they stayed in that battle."
Despite plenty of positives, Hodgson revealed that Jeffrey Schlupp was subbed at half-time due to a muscular injury, and although that's a big blow in a position Palace already have a number of injuries, Jaïro Riedewald impressed Hodgson at left-back: "All these muscle injuries have to be assessed and the doctors won’t give you any idea at the moment to the extent of it, but it was forced upon us.
"We were obliged to put Jaïro in, and he did exceptionally well in a position that he certainly hasn’t played many games for us in, and to come in, in the second-half and play a Watford team who play the ball forward quickly and play with wingers and he coped very well.
"We were fortunate that, that happened because we really have been so unlucky, because at the start of the season we said we don’t want injuries at right and left-back because we need [Joel] Ward and Patrick van Aanholt there all the time; we didn’t get that."
Overall, Palace and Hodgson can be delighted with the 270 minutes in the last eight days, and Hodgson was quick to point out what a toll those efforts have taken on the Eagles: "It was very much a team and squad victory. Now we’ve got a few days, and we need those days to first of all recover, we have some very, very fatigued players out there. I thought that was obvious towards the end of the game with some of the decisions people were making, they were running on empty really."