Sam Allardyce: Crystal Palace relegation would be 'devastating'
Saturday 6 May 2017 08:22, UK
Sam Allardyce says relegation would be "devastating" for Crystal Palace, but is backing his side to secure their Premier League status.
Palace are six points from safety with three games left to play, the first against Manchester City on Saturday, live on Sky Sports.
They have enjoyed a remarkable turnaround in the last couple of months as they have dragged themselves away from the bottom three with wins over Chelsea, Arsenal and Liverpool.
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And Allardyce told Sky Sports: "We were so deep in the mire before, look how much it has taken to get out of it, and we're still not safe.
"It's an achievement to get to where we are, but there's only one goal, the goal is to stay safe in the Premier League so we can build next season.
"We can't have the devastation of being relegated. It's a massive task to deal with that today and fight to come back.
"Relegation hasn't been a part of my vocabulary since I took over Notts County all those years ago. Since then we've always been on the up, always looked up, at every club we've been at and I've been at. I hope it'll be the same for Crystal Palace at the end of the season."
Palace have lost their last two games against Tottenham and Burnley without scoring.
They finish the campaign with trips to City and Manchester United either side of a home match with relegation-threatened Hull.
"I don't need to motivate the players against the big boys," says Allardyce. "Against Man Utd, Liverpool, Chelsea, Man City, whoever, the size of the club motivates the players.
"There'd be no doubt about that, I'd love a 0-0. You know I love a clean sheet. You play in those games, at those football clubs, and anything you get is a bonus. All of those games are the icing on top of the cake."
Palace's season looks to have hinged on a four-match winning run that started in February with victory over Middlesbrough and culminated with a 2-1 victory at Premier League leaders Chelsea.
"We certainly wouldn't have been fancied when we started the run of four on the trot, with the fourth being Chelsea," said Allardyce. "If you looked at our fixtures I don't think anybody would have fancied us.
"We've got it in our own hands, and it's taken us a long time to get it that way, and we've got to deliver it now it's in our own hands.
"For us it's about getting mathematically safe so we can plan for next season."
Watch Man City v Crystal Palace live on Sky Sports from 11.30am on Saturday.
