Hughes setting sights lower

Michael Hughes has told his Crystal Palace team-mates to forget about the big guns and concentrate on beating the teams in the bottom half of the table.

Palace have managed one draw in November from testing games against Arsenal, Liverpool and Newcastle in the Premiership.

But Hughes believes the club's chances of survival in the Premiership will depend on how they fare against the lower-ranked teams.

The 33-year-old midfielder said: "We have to be honest about it. We didn't expect to beat Arsenal, Liverpool and Newcastle. It's about how we do against teams around us in the table.

"If we beat the lower-placed teams, we have a great chance of staying up. It's going to be a battle but we have the players and the mentality."

Palace's fighting qualities were evident in Saturday's 2-0 defeat against Newcastle at Selhurst Park, as Aki Riihilahti and Ben Watson matched Jermaine Jenas and Lee Bowyer tackle for tackle in midfield.

Fitz Hall was also impressive in defence but Iain Dowie's team struggled to provide any sort of support to Andrew Johnson, who played as a solitary striker.

Craig Bellamy, a constant threat with his pace and clever running, teed up Patrick Kluivert's opener before powering home Newcastle's second goal.

Palace travel to Southampton on Saturday and Hughes is confident they can return to winning ways.

"So far there haven't been any teams that have been much better than us, and we have caused teams plenty of problems," he said.

"We have to keep chipping away, get the points and stay out of the bottom three at all costs. I wouldn't say we are comfortable but we can hold our own."

Dowie echoed Hughes's sentiments, saying: "It's tightened up at the bottom again and Southampton will be a key game.

"We have to beat the teams around us but we would have gone down there with a degree of comfort had we performed on Saturday."