Joel Ward says the Crystal Palace squad are keen to see Roy Hodgson agree a new deal at Selhurst Park as they aim to push on under the former England boss.

The Eagles claimed a first win over rivals Brighton since April 2018 on Saturday, with Jordan Ayew’s breakaway winner sealing a vintage Palace away display under Hodgson.

Brighton dominated proceedings but were largely reduced to shots from distance and missed their best chance when Solly March fired wide from close range.

Hodgson heads into talks with chairman Steve Parish this week over a new contract, to see him through until the end of next season, after consecutive wins and clean sheets and with the Eagles looking up the table once more.

“Definitely, the players are keen to see the manager stay and enjoy playing for him," said Ward. "You can see that from the results and the way we have played this season.

“I am pretty sure it is the highest points tally we have had in the Premier League at this stage of the season, which we are delighted about.

“And we want to continue to build and move forward, and set our sights high.

“As regards a target we’ll be taking each game as it comes and push up the table as high as we can. These two back to back wins have put us in a fantastic position – with two clean sheets as well.”

While Palace have the club’s highest points tally for this stage of a Premier League season, just two weeks ago the threat of a relegation battle looked a far more realistic danger.

“Even after the defeats at the start of February we were clear in our own minds where we were going, and were unfortunate at times in those games,” said Ward.

“But we remained focused on what we could do, and these back to back wins we have secured are hard to come by.

“We have dug them out and shown our togetherness and resilience under pressure to get the points."