Sunday 7 February 2016 12:49, UK
Scott Dann says new Crystal Palace signing Emmanuel Adebayor has boosted the squad's morale and believes the forward is desperate to prove he can still be a threat at the top level.
Adebayor joined Palace towards the end of the January transfer window after nearly five months without a club following his release from Tottenham.
He made his first start for Palace on Saturday as they ended a run of five successive Premier League defeats with a 1-1 draw against Swansea.
Despite manager Alan Pardew's concerns over his fitness, Adebayor played 86 minutes at the Liberty Stadium and Dann feels the 31-year-old has a huge role to play as Palace seek to get their season back on track.
"He has that natural fitness, he has worked hard with a personal trainer and that tells you what type of lad he is," Dann said.
"He is going to be a big player for us until the end of the season if we can use his qualities and get him into the game.
"At previous clubs he has proved he is a world-class striker and he has shown it over and over again.
"He has a point to prove and it has given us a lift to see someone like that come in with the run we were on.
"He has won things, he is a big player, and someone who the majority of defenders in this league will not want to play against when he's on top form.
"Hopefully we can get him there as soon as possible."
Dann underlined his threat from set-pieces by scoring for the second successive game and the fifth time this season.
The central defender pounced on Damien Delaney's flick-on two minutes into the second-half to restore parity after Gylfi Sigurdsson had opened the scoring in the 13th minute with a well taken free-kick.
"I work hard on the training pitch to try and get on the end of things," Dann added.
"We have not scored many goals and we need everyone to chip in.
"Hopefully I can get a few more before the end of the season but the most important thing was to come away from here without a loss.
"They have been on a good run recently and we needed to dig in after losing five on the bounce.
"We had to stand up and now we can look to move forward."
