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Alan Pardew urges Crystal Palace players to get back to winning ways

Chung-Yong Lee drives home the winning goal for Crystal Palace at Stoke
Image: Chung-Yong Lee scores for Crystal Palace at Stoke in their last league victory

Crystal Palace manager Alan Pardew has advised his players to focus on climbing above Liverpool in the league, rather than run the risk of slipping towards the relegation zone.

The Eagles sit 10 points above the bottom three in the table, having lost their last five league games, and Pardew knows they need to reverse that run.

Palace, who have have amassed their best points tally since returning to the top-flight two seasons ago, travel to 16th-placed Swansea on Saturday.

Pardew said: "We would be foolish, a club of our size, to assume that we are... safe yet, because we aren't.

"We have 31 points. We need to find more than 42 because one of my old teams went down on more than 42. It could be one of those years.

"You look at the league table and you know the bottom clubs are going to find some form to save themselves and get into an honourable position, so we have to have one eye on that situation.

"Having said that, we are only two points behind Liverpool. We are kind of in the middle, so we could push on and still have a great season in the league.

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Alan Pardew, manager of Crystal Palace, looks on prior to the Capital One Cup second round match against Shrewsbury
Image: Alan Pardew has seen his Eagles side slide down the table in recent weeks

"Our points total is greater than it was in the two years we have been in the Premier League, so there are some positives, but I am not going to escape from the fact that our recent record is a cause for concern and we need to put it right."

But the 54-year-old believes the tough period his side are going through will stand them in good stead come the business end of the campaign.

Pardew said: "That is the Premier League for you. It is difficult to win in the Premier League.

"Sometimes when you win a couple of games and you are on a role, you take it for granted a little bit. We are not taking anything for granted at the moment. We are not in that mode at all. We are fighting for everything.

"It's a two-edged sword, I don't want to put our heads in the sand and dress it up.

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Pardew admitted his Palace side lacked quality in their 2-1 home defeat to Bournemouth in midweek

"We have to face reality, that is where we are and there is a bit of pressure on us and we need to deal with it.

"It will stand us in good stead at some point, whether it is a big cup game we have coming up at Tottenham, pressure near the end of the season (if) we are sucked into the relegation zone or we are fighting for Europe and we have to win the last four. We have to play under pressure and this year the pressure hasn't really kicked in. Now it has.

"They know if I am saying it, then it has some clarity because I only dream about the top, I don't look at the bottom.

"They are not stupid, this is a wise squad and they won't take their eye off the target. That target for us is the same as everybody's - 40 points."

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