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Pardew demands more wins at home from Palace

Crystal Palace manager Alan Pardew before the game Action Images via Reuters / John Sibley Livepic (Reuters)

(Reuters) - Crystal Palace manager Alan Pardew has called on his team to improve their home form ahead of Aston Villa's visit to Selhurst Park on Saturday. The Eagles lost 10 games and drew another three at home last season and were defeated 2-1 again by Arsenal on Sunday after winning 3-1 away against Norwich City in their opening fixture of the current campaign. "We've got to win at home, every home game I'll be thinking that this year," Pardew said. "We lost to Arsenal. That was a cracking game... I thought we played well... but we got beat by the better team. "I was really pleased with the performance, but we need to turn that into a result at home. "We need to win more than half our home games and I think we can do that this year." Both Palace and Villa are on three points and Pardew is anticipating a tough game when Tim Sherwood's side visit. "They've started well and Tim's brought in a whole new batch of players," Pardew was quoted as saying on Palace's website. "The two games they've played they've been cohesive and Tim will be pleased with that. Obviously they've got talent there, so it will be a difficult game (for us)." Midfielder James McArthur has hailed Pardew's impact on the club and backed new signing Yohan Cabaye to make a mark. "Everyone in the changing room pushes each other and the manager demands high standards. You can see his ambition and I think that's great," the 27-year-old said. "When he first came in he demanded that we played a certain brand of football that was attractive, with pace and power, and I think we've got that. So it makes for really exciting times at Crystal Palace right now," McArthur added. "It's a really big statement that we signed Yohan. He's a top quality player. "When you're playing alongside him you're getting used to the way he plays, I think it's great for myself," he said. "Everyone knows that I'm more of a ball-winner and will try to give it to players like (Yannick) Bolasie, (Wilfried) Zaha, (Jason) Puncheon and he's another one that you can trust to give the ball to and he'll have an influence on the match." (Reporting by Simon Jennings in Bengaluru; editing by Sudipto Ganguly)