Crystal Palace Fan View: Do or die for Sam Allardyce's troops as Hull roar into view

Availability dominates build-up once again

After the embarrassment of a performance away at Manchester City last weekend it became abundantly clear, if it wasn’t before, that to stand any chance against Hull we needed to see one or two key players returning to action. On that front, there was lukewarm news on Thursday at Sam Allardyce’s pre-match press conference but there was reason to be cautiously optimistic.

Of all of our injuries James Tomkins and Yohan Cabaye are the two that are “most likely to be fit” which means, in translation, that providing they can walk they’ll be on the team sheet. Cabaye will replace James McArthur, a player who looks a shadow of his former self for some reason, with Tomkins either Schlupp or van Aanholt and the cockamamie setup we tried against Manchester City being binned in the process.

Those two changes alone allow us to return to something approaching a full strength line-up and it couldn’t have come at a better time.

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Hull’s turnaround under Marco Silva means they’re not out of it yet

Much has been made of the impact of Marco Silva has had at Hull, most of it by people with a damn sight more direct experience than I have. Nevertheless, a cursory reading of their fortunes since he got the job in January paints quite the picture. They were bottom when he took over and now find themselves third bottom with a real chance of survival.

They key seems to have been their ability to beat those around them. They’ve beaten Watford, Middlesbrough, Swansea & Bournemouth since his appointment and results like those are what give you a chance of survival. That was until last weekend when they lost 2-0 to Sunderland which must have felt like a sucker punch for Hull at this stage of the season. Then again, neither is a 5-0 loss to Manchester City is far from ideal.

The performances in the last few games have been disappointing, I can’t explain that away. We haven’t seen such inadequate performances since the Sunderland loss back at the start of Allardyce’s reign or, looking further back, since Pardew’s reign over the most bipolar Crystal Palace team in recent memory. That being said, the players and fans must write off the losses in the last few games and focus firmly on Hull’s visit.

We must be pragmatic, the only game we could realistically have expected to get anything from is against Burnley. Should we have beaten Manchester City and Tottenham? Of course not. These two clubs have chased Champions League football for the last few seasons. Beating Arsenal, Chelsea & Liverpool were fantastic results but are certainly not something we can expect week in week out against clubs with the kind of financial clout that Manchester City possess.

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Crystal Palace could be safe by kick off

The results and performances in those games could pale into insignificance soon though. Win against Hull and nobody will remember the Manchester City drubbing, nobody will remember the inept performance against Burnley and nobody will remember the Sunderland loss earlier in the season. Sam Allardyce came in with a remit containing just one order of business: ensure Crystal Palace stay in the Premier League.

Exactly what result we need to ensure that remit is met is very much dependent on what goes on in the north of England on Saturday as Swansea travel to Sunderland. If Sunderland once again pull off the improbable, and actually win a game, the picture will change from one in which Palace need at least a point to ensure survival to one where we need nothing, but Hull must win to stay in the race. Given Swansea play on Saturday and we play on Sunday Hull will know the result in advance, they’ll know what they have to do to avoid being relegated, at least for this weekend. Whether that will work to their advantage or disadvantage remains to be seen.

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It boils down to this:

• Win and we’re safe.

• Draw and we’re safe.

• Lose and we could be safe, but only if Sunderland beat Swansea.

There is no better time to get behind the team than now. Lose and there’s every chance of a grandstand finish that no Crystal Palace fan wants to see but win and we can celebrate at a packed Selhurst Park, a Selhurst Park that will hopefully be full of 20,000 fans feeling both joy and relief in equal measure come about 3pm on Sunday.

This weekend is our weekend, just as it was Brighton’s weekend to win the league.

Hang on a minute…