Hodgson chose to rest five key players for the 2-0
defeat at the KC Stadium, which allowed Hull to pull level with
Gianfranco Zola's relegation threatened side on 27
points.
Bobby Zamora, Danny Murphy, Damien Duff, Aaron Hughes and
Dickson Etuhu all missed the defeat
but returned for last night's 2-1 win over Wolfsburg, which
prompted the
West Ham
United hierarchy
to claim that Hodgson broke Premier League rules.
A Premier League spokesman said:
"We can confirm that we have received an official complaint from
West Ham over this matter.
"We will now ask
Fulham
for their observations and then the Premier League board will then
consider what actions, if any, are appropriate."
Premier League rules state that all teams must field their
strongest side available for all games.
Should they find Fulham guilty, the Premier League could decide
to impose a penalty similar to the £25,000 suspended fine handed to
Wolves after Mick McCarthy rested nine of his players for his
side's defeat at Manchester United in September.
Hodgson insisted last night that he had done nothing wrong and
was adamant that he would continue his rotation policy for this
weekend's match against Wigan.
"Firstly I don't think West Ham should be picking our team and I
think that is a fairly obvious statement," said the
62-year-old.
"If there is a complaint my conscience is perfectly clear on the
subject and as far as I'm concerned we don't have a case to
answer.
"In the last game I selected a team comprising of a defender
just sold for £10m (Chris Smalling), a South African international
(Kagisho Dikgacoi), who replaced Danny Murphy and I replaced Bobby
Zamora with Clint Dempsey, a USA centre forward.
"I can't understand why, if you have a large squad, it's not
allowed for you to change things around. I can't imagine anyone
questioning Liverpool, Manchester United or Chelsea for using all
the players in their squad."
Hodgson has also found support from his peers, with Wigan
manager Roberto Martinez describing West Ham's move as
"foolish".
The Spaniard said: "As a manager you always make decisions that
can help your team.
"Roy Hodgson and Fulham have had such a successful season, they
know exactly what they have got behind the scenes and know what
they need.
"For anyone to criticise another football club when they are in
such outstanding form is very foolish.
"Roy Hodgson has got to make the decisions to help his team
achieve their aims for the season."
The argument is the latest in a series of squabbles between the
two clubs. Fulham are suing West Ham for £500,000 - the loss of
their league position bonus three seasons ago after Carlos Tevez's
goals helped keep the Hammers up and finish a place above Fulham in
the Premier League.
The Premier League fined West Ham £5.5 million for breaking
their rules over third party agreements over the deals which
brought Tevez and Javier Mascherano to Upton Park but chose not to
dock the club any points.