Roy Hodgson downplayed the gulf in financial clout between his Crystal Palace outfit and the Manchester City juggernaut that left Selhurst Park with a 3-1 win.

A Raheem Sterling brace and a late Gabriel Jesus strike rendered Luka Milivojevic neat free-kick nothing more than consolation despite bringing the home faithful hope at 2-1 with ten minutes to go.

In a game that City dominated from start to finish, Hodgson was full of praise of his conquerors and admitted that any talk of financial indifference is time wasted.

“I don’t know whether it’s a problem, it’s a fact,” said Hodgson.

“In all leagues, cream rises to the top.

“Often that cream is well fortified by the amount of money to spend, and I think that’s a fact of life.

“If we can’t get into that group, we will have to accept that the gulf exists.

“We find ourselves playing a number of games where the chance of winning isn’t great.”

READ: Player ratings from Crystal Palace's 3-1 defeat by Manchester City

Despite the obvious disparity in resources, Hodgson felt Guardiola paid them huge respect with their starting XI that boasted Sergio Aguero, Leroy Sane, Kevin De Bruyne and David Silva despite having a huge Champions League encounter three days away.

“They had their big hitters which didn’t make our task easier, but I can only congratulate them.

“They are a very good team, and will take some beating in any competition, and they’ll certainly require more than Crystal Palace produced today to get a victory.”

Palace seemed to set their stall out early, looking to absorb pressure and utilise Wilfried Zaha and Andros Townsend on the break.

When Sterling’s second found it’s way past a helpless Vicente Guaita however, those initial tactics were soon changed, and Palace seemed a lot more threatening, despite ultimately leaving themselves open for Jesus to seal the tie.

“At two down you stretch yourself, we played 4-4-2, put a winger on, put two up top, and encouraged our full-backs to get forward.

“We lost the ball, they break and put the game to bed.”

Hodgson takes his side, who remain 13th, to The Emirates next weekend, where there's a more level playing field, just.