"If Gareth wants to take any encouragement from that he is very welcome to do so, but I certainly thought that on his side's performance today, that didn't look to me like a relegation team," Hodgson said.
"It looked like a team that's got the wherewithal to get the necessary points to stay in the league. But it will be tough.
I am afraid that the battle that we have witnessed today and Fulham have taken part in, there will be five more of those battles to come, and he might have to do it against teams in the top four as well, so it won't be an easy task."