James Tomkins insists there is 'no one better' than Sam Allardyce to steer Crystal Palace away from relegation

James Tomkins says Crystal Palace's players believe Sam Allardyce will guide the club away from relegation trouble.

Palace are languishing in 19th place, having picked up a paltry total of 19 points from 25 games this season.

The Eagles lost to Stoke City at the weekend and Allardyce has secured just one victory since succeeding Alan Pardew in December.

But Tomkins is adamant he and his teammates are firmly behind Allardyce, who has not been relegated from England's top tier during his managerial carer.

“We’ll keep going and there is no better man in charge [than Sam] to get us out of this situation," Tomkins told Palace's official website.

"We all believe in him and all the lads believe in each other; we’ve got a good dressing room with a lot of experience in there.

“That will be important with the games coming up and in this situation - we’ll stay positive and hopefully get a big win in the next game.”

Palace host relegation rivals Middlesbrough next Saturday and will be bidding to keep only their second clean sheet on home turf this season.

Swansea and Hull are the only two sides to have conceded more goals than Palace but Tomkins is confident the signs suggest Allardyce's men are starting to tighten up at the back.

"We were good all around the pitch mostly. The clean sheets will come if we keep defending like that but we need to get better in the final third.

"[Peter] Crouch can be quite awkward but we dealt with him quite well.

“We looked a lot more solid [against Stoke] and that’s one positive we can take out of the game," Tomkins added.