Roy Hodgson plays down Crystal Palace's FA Cup hopes ahead of quarter-final clash with Watford

Roy Hodgson was quick to play down any thoughts of reaching the FA Cup semi-finals for the first time, as the Crystal Palace manager takes his side to Watford on Saturday.

Despite a managerial career that started in 1976 and has taken in sixteen different teams in eight countries, the 71-year old has only managed to reach the quarter finals with Fulham domestically.

Cup success has been confined to Scandinavia, but with the south London side looking for a repeat of their 2016 FA Cup final appearance, Hodgson has stressed that a club like his should not expect regular appearances in finals.

“This run is reasonably lengthy. The one at Fulham was too. When you’re Fulham or Crystal Palace, to get to the quarter-finals is not too bad. To be fair, the cup is normally won by the Arsenals and the Chelseas,” he said.

“They’ve got a list of cup runs as long as your arm. The Watfords and the Crystal Palaces don’t have that big trophy cabinet. You’ve got to put those things in perspective.

“I’m pleased that we’ve managed to do so well to get this far, I’m pleased to have the opportunity to put out a team at the weekend that could go forward and win the game and reach a semi-final. That would be fantastic.

“But I don’t necessarily start trying to envisage what it would mean in my career, should that happen. I haven’t gone quite that far. I won a couple of cups in Sweden.

“Of course winning the FA Cup would be a wonderful thing to do, but there’s a lot to do before we can even hope to achieve that.

“Firstly, we’ve got to get through two very difficult games – the one we have against Watford, then we will have one in the semi-final.

“At the moment the final is the stuff of which dreams are made of, and we have to make certain that we confront the reality of the present when it comes to the match against Watford.

We’re knowing full well that if we want to achieve or reach our goal and see our dream come true, first we’ve got to get through Saturday, otherwise we can forget all about it.”

Neither Palace or Watford have conceded a goal in the tournament this season, with the visitors to Vicarage Road overcoming Grimsby, Tottenham and Doncaster so far.

Watford made seven changes in their last game, a 3-1 defeat to Manchester City at the Etihad, but Hodgson was unconcerned over the decisions by his opposite number Javi Gracia.

“I didn't think about that at all. I've no interest in what other managers do with regards to league games. Every manager should have the right to look at the squad of players he has and choose the team that he thinks is the right one for the game,” he added.

“Gracia is just doing what managers do – playing an important match at Manchester City and he decides the best team to get a result in that game and he plays that team.

“And then you have to get the team out and see seven changes – you have to know first what the team was the week before. I don't follow their team week by week – not until we play them.

“The players that were rested were on the bench, weren't they? And they came on as substitutes. What sort of rest is that? They still travelled to Manchester; they still over-nighted; they still got ready for the game; they still got out and warmed up, they still travelled home. What rest are we talking about?”