We, Crystal Palace faithful’s are all too aware and weary of early survival celebrations, but after last weekend’s win at Stoke most fans and pundits are already labeling the Eagles safe for another season in the Premier League.
With 3 wins in the last 4, optimists are calculating where we could finish in the top half and dismissing any chances of relegation – I for one am over the moon with our current 11th place and have been afraid to push our luck any further. Historically 40 points has always been the magic target for Premier League survival and if Pardew is still striving for this milestone – we still need a win and draw from our remaining 8 games. These optimists could be right in dismissing the 40 point rule, as with the top half of the table being stronger than ever it could mean those 36 points or even 35 is enough to guarantee a profitable place in the top flight.
Not only is Super Al doing everything right at the moment, it is guaranteed that he won’t lose his cool in the last remaining games as he still has a big point to prove. He is sure to continue to push the whole team to secure the highest place in the table possible and to build the status and reputation that he keeps mentioning in interviews – especially with the likes of the BBC, Hodgson and big money transfers who have snubbed and not held confidence in Palace in the past. With this in mind and disappointedly no league football this weekend to keep me occupied, I have found some time to do my research on our last 8 games and this has significantly increased my confidence and suppressed my realist views.
So….8 games left – half of these are with the top flight teams, but could we be safe by the last 4? Let’s start with Man City at home next Easter Monday. I am sure that Pelligrini will be expecting and calculating an easy 3 point away win at Selhurst, ahead of their tough away fixture to Man Utd the following week. We certainly won’t go in to the game with high expectations; however City could give us an opportunity to get the 1 point out of the 4 we need, if they go in to the game naïve to what Palace can achieve.
We then travel to Sunderland who are just above the relegation zone on 26 points – surely this should be the most comfortable tie we face but it will all depend on who is the most determined team on the day. Sunderland beat us 3-1 away on our last meet, but since then the Palace squad have improved tenfold and Sunderland at the minute can’t seem to score goals. If Wilf and Yannick are on top form and we don’t assume that Sunderland won’t put up a fight, this could be the game that secures our safety….but this is football and history tell us that the easiest game will prove to be our hardest.
Thirdly we have Tony Pulis’ West Brom who are currently 8 points clear of danger and who could come to Selhurst with recent home wins to Leicester and QPR and a renewed confidence spurring them on. This is a huge game and if we don’t see a win over Man City or Sunderland we could be put under a lot of pressure. Claudio Yacob is one to watch out for but again if Bolasie is on form – we won’t need to worry.
Hull City – This is a tough fixture. Hull have a worse end of season show down then us and their destiny is far from determined yet with still six of the current top eight to play, plus a tough trip to Crystal Palace and six-pointer with relegation rivals Burnley. Steve Bruce will be determined and committed to the end and fighting fiercely for survival which can be dangerous, as proved with their performance at Chelsea last week. However with only 2 away wins all season and 3 points from bottom 3 the odds are stacked in Palace’s favour – (forgetting our dismal 2-0 loss at the KC at the beginning of the season).
Then the fun starts, but hopefully we will by this point be mathematically safe and enjoying coming up against the best of the best….we face Chelsea away first, who are sitting rather pretty at the moment and running away with the Premier League title. If Palace is safe by this point and Chelsea has won the title, surely they would have already started summer vacation plans and this could be a memorable Palace win?! Okay my realistic approach has gone out of the window while writing this but stranger things have happened and again will come down to who wants it more on the day.
After that fixture, we face Manchester United, they will want to take over Arsenal if they haven’t already, but I think by this point both teams will be just enjoying their successes and pushing for the win. Wilfred Zaha will want to prove how far he has come since coming back to Palace from the bench at United, and Scott Dann will want to show off his skill against Jones and Smalling proving Hodgson wrong on his international choices…so this could be a highly charged game not to be missed.
Our last away game will be Liverpool – they haven’t had their best season but have improved tenfold of late. Liverpool beat us in the FA cup on Valentines day but this hasn’t fazed us – it’s going to take us and Liverpool fans longer to forget last season’s 3-3 draw that robbed them of the title, ‘oh and the 3-1 win at home this season in the league’. Liverpool will be nervous and you can bet that Palace fans will be louder than ever on the last away game of the season piling on the pressure. I for one have this as a definite 3 points in my mind.
Lastly Swansea – we are only 7 points away from 8th place Swansea now…how great does this sound? Swansea have rightfully earned their place in the top half this season but going in to the last game and after 2 previous tough fixtures against Man City and Arsenal this game could go either way with hopefully us finishing on an unbelievable high.
