Manager for Crystal palace Roy Hodgson has welcomed the competition for places in his team by some of his players.

Andros Townsend who has been integral to the palace team over the last three years has this season lost his place to Ghanaian Jeffrey Schlupp and the manager is pleased to have selection headaches going into games.

Roy Hodgson was full of praise for the Black Stars player saying he is happy to have the versatile player back as for most spells of last season he had to only watch games from the sidelines.

"It's also been nice to see how well Jeffrey Schlupp has done because last year the competition for places maybe wasn't as high because Jeffrey was injured for large periods" he stressed.

Palace are spoilt for choice in wide areas with the likes of Wilfred Zaha, Jeffrey Schlupp, Andros Townsend, Max Meyer all fighting for a slot on the wings with only two places available.

Jordan Ayew could even play on the wings but for most part of the season he has been used through the middle to good effect.

The Eagles over the weekend beat Norwich City by two goals to nil with Andros Townsend climbing from the bench to score the clincher for Palace.

Crystal Palace will next take on West Ham in a London derby in their next game at the London Olympic stadium.