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Crystal Palace Fan View: Seven games for Eagles to save themselves
Where are we now?
It’s the final international break of the season, which means two things. First, we’ll all be subjected to some dull England performances which we’ll obligingly tune in to before looking back at the past 90 minutes come the end of the game and questioning our life choices. Second, and more importantly, it means Crystal Palace have seven games left of the season to ensure that it is us that continue to play Premier League football next term.
Right now we sit outside the relegation zone, 16th, with 30 points on the board. One win in the last five doesn’t make encouraging reading, but here the statistics paint a false story. That one win came against Huddersfield and lifted us out of the relegation zone after a tricky run of fixtures against Chelsea, Tottenham and Manchester United where really, we ought to have done better. Narrow defeats were the tale of those fixtures, but near misses and close calls are worth about as much as a single Zimbabwean Dollar come the end of the season.
Read more: Clear of the relegation zone… for now
Read more: Second-half rally not enough to rescue point
What do we need to save ourselves?
The magical 40-point mark is nothing more than a fable. Not since 2011 has 40 points been required to ensure survival, and it’s only been necessary in four of the previous 20 Premier League seasons. While it may not be necessary, if we were to achieve 40 points, the odds are stacked in our favour when it comes down to survival.
Read more: Eagles’ resolve set to be tested
Read more: Injury crisis haunts Crystal Palace as Tottenham grab late winner
Personally, I think we need three wins. That would take us to 39 points, and you’d hope we’d pick up a draw or two in the other four games, which would give us a bit of a buffer on the chasing pack. We shouldn’t be taking anything for granted at this stage, but I am quietly confident that we’ll be okay this time around.
Who do we have to beat to get there?
We’ve had some horrible run-ins in recent seasons, but this time round that simply isn’t the case. With the exception of Liverpool – whom we love playing at home – in the last few weeks of the season, we don’t play a single side currently placed above eighth. Watford, Bournemouth, Leicester and a home game against Brighton all beckon – all are winnable games and we should take heart from our performance and result against Huddersfield.
The Huddersfield game wasn’t a game we needed to win to stay in the hunt, but it was a game that held significance mentally. We should have picked up a couple of points in previous games against Spurs and Manchester United in particular, but didn’t, and the absence of Wilfried Zaha and other key players seemed to be weighing heavily upon us. The trip to Yorkshire saw key players return, as did Crystal Palace to winning ways. The fact we won against a direct rival bodes well for the upcoming games against the likes of Brighton.
We cap the season off with a trip to Stoke before hosting West Brom on the final day. Whether or not they’ll already be relegated is conjecture at this stage, but whatever the situation then, they currently occupy the bottom two spots in the league and are there for a reason.
