Crystal Palace boss Roy Hodgson has bemoaned the ‘double whammy’ of James Tomkins giving away a game-changing free kick before confronting the referee in the tunnel post-match, resulting in a booking which sees him suspended for the visit of Leicester next week.

The former West Ham defender was penalised after referee Anthony Taylor was adjudged to have fouled Andy Carroll on the edge of the box, a free kick from which the host’s second goal resulted.

Following the game, Hodgson revealed Tomkins couldn’t stop himself from cornering the official in the London Stadium tunnel and, alongside star man Wilfried Zaha, will now miss the clash with Leicester having been shown a fifth caution of the season.

"Certainly one of the goals can be contested for the free kick," Hodgson said.

"Tomkins is still so upset by it that after the game he couldn’t resist the temptation to tell the referee again that he had made the wrong decision, he got himself booked and is out of the next game so that was a double whammy, a real double whammy."

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On the overall performance, Hodgson added: "At half time I thought we were quite fortunate to be in the lead, I don’t think we played anywhere near as good a football as we’re capable of playing.

"Strange enough we played our best football and had the best control of the game at 2-1 but didn’t stop the third goal, of course, which was a fine strike, he’s done that before and we know it’s in his locker. That was tough for us I suppose to accept.

"In the way we played it was often better in the second half, it was more open, we certainly had our moments in attack and they had theirs, but matches are won by goals, they got three we only got two so that’s nothing one can say, there is no clever analysis which changes anything."