Saturday 10 December 2016 07:38, UK
Alan Pardew has described Premier League victories as "gold dust" and believes Crystal Palace's clash with Hull could define the first half of their season.
The Eagles ended a wretched run of six successive Premier League with a 3-0 victory over Southampton at Selhurst Park last weekend.
The win lifted Palace up to 14th in the table and Pardew believes it will take another fully-focused display to get the required result this Saturday at second-bottom Hull.
"We are all finding it difficult to turn the top teams over, so the rest of us are fighting amongst ourselves. That level between the bottom and middle-tier teams is down to fine margins to get results," Pardew said. "A win is gold dust in this division at the moment.
"We have a game at Hull which could define the first half of our season because we have two very difficult fixtures after Hull, we need to get something there, then we can look at Man United and Chelsea, to relish that challenge.
"The first job, though, is Hull, and it will be a big game for both teams."
Pardew has challenged his players to provide another "jolt" reaction when they head to the Tigers following last month's dramatic 5-4 stoppage-time defeat at fellow strugglers Swansea.
"We saw last week a reaction to what was a kind of freakish game at Swansea, it kind of jolted us a little bit, and we need to continue in that 'jolt period' to take that same kind of attitude to Hull.
"They will have the disappointment of their result against Middlesbrough (on Monday), they will be hungry for a home win - and we have to match that desire."
With forward Connor Wickham sidelined by a long-term knee injury, Pardew will look to be active in the January transfer window, although he remains hopeful on-loan Chelsea striker Loic Remy is closer to being back in contention.
"I think we need to do something in this window, but a lot of teams will need to move in this window because it is so tight from eighth down," he said.
"A defender, and a left-footed defender, would be important to us if we could get one in this window.
"The Connor (Wickham) injury has also affected us, and that's another area we are perhaps going to have to look at it if Loic doesn't come through in January.
"It is about getting in good players. They can come from all different areas - I have proved that by bringing players in from France for small fees who have been very successful here in England.
"We will be hunting in a big market, and hopefully we get the one that fits for us."
Upgrade to Sky Sports now and get six months half price.
