Crystal Palace being 'hunted down' in battle for survival, says Alan Pardew
Thursday 31 March 2016 15:35, UK
Alan Pardew says Crystal Palace are not safe from relegation, ahead of Saturday's trip to in-form West Ham.
Palace have gone 13 games in the Premier League without a win since taking all three points from a 2-1 victory at Stoke on December 19.
Despite the poor run of form, which has seen Palace slip to 16th in the table, they still find themselves seven points clear of the bottom three, although Pardew is refusing to accept his side are not involved in the scrap for survival.
"We're not safe, we're on a run of form in the league, we've got no momentum and we're going to have to fight for everything we've got," he said.
"We're not sleepwalking or daydreaming - we're fully committed to everything we've got. We have a challenge ahead of us. The teams below us are going to hunt points and we've got ourselves, unfortunately, in a position where they'll try to catch us."
Saturday's opponents West Ham are fifth in the table, just a point behind Manchester City in the final Champions League spot and Pardew is under no illusion as to the size of the task of securing a first league win of the year.
"It's a tough game. We've played well there in the last two years and we're going to need to do that again," he said.
"They're a team that have done really well this year. The manager's done a super job and it's a really difficult place to go. We're just trying to get the points that we need before the FA Cup semi-final.
"We really need to up our game. Our desire and commitment can't be faulted and we need to turn that into one or two victories. We're going to have to grind it out."
Pardew has a couple of new injuries concerns ahead of the game following the international break.
Midfielders Yohan Cabaye and Mile Jedinak returned with injury problems, and Pardew was non-committal on whether they would both be fit to play this weekend.
"They both have knocks," he said. "We're not sure whether they are going to make it. Other than that, we're okay. The break wasn't ideal because we went into it off the back of a defeat and you don't want to do that.
"Connor Wickham did a warm-up today and we're hoping to get some football next week. James McArthur is progressing, but is some way off. Emmanuel Adebayor has a knock as well and we're waiting to see with him too. We're desperate to get him up to speed."