The England international has been criticised by his manager this season but produced a sterling response last weekend with a goal and a man of the match performance in the 3-0 win against the Hammers.
Hodgson believes the 26-year-old full-back showed why the club forked out a reported £17million for his services in 2009.
But the Reds chief also challenged Johnson - who missed the last eight games with an abductor injury - to maintain those standards, starting with Sunday's testing trip to Tottenham Hotspur.
"It was a performance at his level," Hodgson told the club's official website. "He's one of our star players and he gave a star performance.
"It was good for Glen. These players have just got back from a World Cup and it might be that they're only starting to find their form now.
"The enforced rest he had might have done him some good because he was certainly lively on Saturday, both going forward and defensively."
Meanwhile, Hodgson has been delighted with the club's upturn in form after collecting 13 points from a possible 18 in the league.
"It's been very good," said Hodgson of Liverpool's recent points haul that is only bettered by Manchester United.
"The start, we realised, was going to set us back quite a bit and we realised we needed to get into a fairly rich vein of form.
"The last six league games and last two in the Europa League has been a good run where we've only lost once.
"In one or two of the matches we've also had to change the team around and we've been missing important players."
Tottenham v Liverpool To Score in 90mins: Johnson, G. 7/1
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