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This article is part of Football FanCast's Monthly Review series, which analyses what managers can learn from the previous month and what the coming month could have in store.

Crystal Palace enjoyed an excellent - if not rare - start to the season in August, performing above expectations to end the first month of the campaign sitting pretty in fourth - if only it would stay that way!

One says rare because the Eagles often take a while to get going. They lost four of their first five Premier League games last term, whilst the season before that, they went without a goal for the first seven games of the campaign, losing all of them.

Despite those previous slow starts, Roy Hodgson has done a fine job so far in 2019/20, recording a historic result at Old Trafford whilst already winning a game at Selhurst Park - Palace won at their own ground just five times in 2018/19.

However, there is always room for improvement. Let's take a look at two things the former England manager must address in September...

Return of defensive stalwarts 

Things are going pretty well at the back for Palace right now.

At the time of writing, the south Londoners have the best defensive record in the Premier League having conceded just two goals in four games, while keeping two clean sheets.

However, formidable duo Mamadou Sakho and James Tomkins are closing in on a return from injury, which leaves Hodgson with a bit of a headache - the pair helped contribute to the sixth-best clean sheet record in the league last term.

Does Hodgson stick with Gary Cahill and Martin Kelly, who have performed admirably so far this term, or does he reinstate Sakho and Tomkins immediately? This is a real dilemma for the 72-year-old, and one he must certainly address.

Decide on his best team

In just four games so far this season, Hodgson has selected three different starting lineups.

He went with Christian Benteke and Jordan Ayew up top together in the first match against Everton, then dropped the latter for the next game against Sheffield United, before bringing him back for the trip to Old Trafford whilst also handing Cahill, Jeffrey Schlupp and Cheikhou Kouyate their first starts of the season.

Hodgson stuck with the same XI in the last two outings and impressively gathered six points, so he must now make the decision on whether that lineup - which didn't include Max Meyer, Benteke or Andros Townsend - is his best.

Tinkering is unlikely to help, after all.

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