Crystal Palace building belief ahead of 'daunting' Premier League run-in, says Jason Puncheon

Believing: Palace have won on three on the spin without conceding a goal
Getty Images
Giuseppe Muro20 March 2017

Jason Puncheon says Crystal Palace are growing in belief under Sam Allardyce after putting distance between themselves and the relegation zone.

Palace secured their third consecutive win by beating Watford 1-0 at Selhurst Park on Saturday to move four points above the bottom three.

Puncheon said: “We are believing. We have won a few games on the bounce and you can see that.

“We are showing our ability and that grit that we have always had. We went through a lull but we are getting out of that and now we need to keep climbing up the table.”

Palace did not manage a single shot on target against Watford but an own goal from Troy Deeney gave them an important win.

Allardyce has never been relegated from the Premier League and he is leading another great escape.

Puncheon (below) said: “The gaffer has been brilliant since he has come in.

“He has always said that the minimum you start with is 0-0 and if you do not concede then you have a great chance of winning.

“Earlier in the season we might have conceded in a game like that on Saturday. You can see the belief in the team.”

Palace, who have now kept three clean sheets in a row, face Chelsea at Stamford Bridge after the international break and play five of the current top six during a difficult run of fixtures before the end of the season.

Crystal Palace's Premier League run-in

1/3

Allardyce said: “It is a bit daunting with Manchester United away, Manchester City away, Liverpool away, Arsenal at home and Spurs at home. The other games are going to be critical for us to try to get three points.”

Meanwhile, Allardyce hopes Palace will keep Wilfried Zaha this summer, amid interest from Tottenham.

Zaha was Palace’s star performer against Watford and Allardyce hopes Palace chairman Steve Parish can get the winger to stay.

“That is the chairman’s responsibility,” said Allardyce.

Watford are still not out of danger at the bottom and Craig Cathcart has warned against complacency to avoid his side being dragged into the relegation scrap.

The Hornets are seven points above the bottom three and defender Cathcart said: “We have 31 points and want to get to 40 as soon as possible.”

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in