Ghana international Jordan Ayew delivered an honest opinion on coach Roy Hodgson, who stepped down from his post as first-team manager at Crystal Palace on Monday.

The Ghanaian said: “When we speak about Roy, I have goosebumps because he’s been so good to me. He’s been a top manager, a top man. He’s helped me a lot, not only as a football player, but as a man as well, so I can’t thank him enough.

“The club has appointed a new manager, and we’ll see how it goes, but we’re relaxed about it as a squad, and we are still focused on our task. We’ll welcome the new manager, and hopefully things will go on well.”

Ayew further revealed how a productive warm-up against Everton gave him the sense he would get on the scoresheet at Goodison Park. The forward was on target for the Eagles with a thunderbolt of an effort – his first goal of 2024 – with 66 minutes on the clock, before Palace were pegged back by a late Amadou Onana header.

Ayew revealed afterwards: “In the warm-up, I scored maybe five in a row, so I had a good feeling today! Sometimes things go your way, sometimes they don’t go your way, but you still need to keep pushing, and that’s what I’ve been doing throughout my whole career.

“It comes sometimes. You try, try, try… it could have gone up, but this time it was successful. Today things went well for me. I thank God and I thank the team for the effort they put in. I don’t want to talk too much about my goal, but the most important thing for me is the team, and we’re happy to go home with a point.”