Crystal Palace boss Roy Hodgson has warned his players not to dwell on the disappointment of losing 3-1 to rivals Brighton as they look to get a positive result at West Ham.
The Eagles were second best at the Amex Stadium on Tuesday night, despite Brighton having played for an hour with 10 men following Shane Duffy’s red card.
The defeat saw Palace’s recent improvement, on the back of a goalless draw against Manchester United and then beating Burnley, come to an abrupt end.
Hodgson, though, expects everyone to swiftly move on as they prepare to head to the London Stadium.
“We all know we wanted to do better, and we were disappointed about the result, but you have got to let that go,” the Palace boss said.
“Nothing we can do or say now, two days after that is going to affect that, and we have to make certain that it doesn’t affect us moving forward, that’s the important thing.
“Now we start with a clean slate on Saturday against West Ham with another opportunity to play as well as I think we have been playing and to get a result.”
Hodgson believes the team did not get the rewards on the night which their efforts deserved.
“They (players) all care,” Hodgson added at a press conference reported by the club.
“I suppose you could seriously argue that because fans are so important to the club, and because they work so hard to support their club – and ours in particular do – when you don’t give them the result they are wanting and hoping for, especially in a fixture with the importance of Brighton versus Crystal Palace, you have let them down.
“I thought the players tried very hard to break through, but it wasn’t good enough to win the game, and as a result, no-one was crying about that afterwards, or complaining about it, or suggesting we had been hard done by in any way.”
The Palace manager, meanwhile, maintained there had been little impact on the squad after it emerged the food hygiene rating at the Beckenham training ground had been zero when inspected during August following building works.
Remedial action was swiftly taken by the club to rectify the issues highlighted by an environmental health officer.
Hodgson said: “It was a surprise to everybody, but it was certainly no disruption, and now everything is more than fine, because it is a lot, lot better than it was the season before.
“It was a one-day event and we got the food in from outside, so our food was served in the same way it always is, and the kitchen was spot on next day.”