Crystal Palace have had an absolutely typical Alan Pardew campaign.
The Eagles had threatened to push for the top six during the first few months of the campaign, but injuries to key players and poor form have seen a dramatic slump from Pardew’s side and they are left with the slightest threat of relegation after a terrible start to 2016.
You can tell a club has gone into full panic mode when Emmanuel Adebayor seems a reasonable signing to make, and Pardew’s obsession with finding a striker to score goals might finally have been answered. However, the answer might be Connor Wickham, not Adebayor.
Yohan Cabaye, Wilfried Zaha and Yannick Bolasie have all had dips in form, or injury lay-offs, and the squad has struggled to replicate the sort of brilliant performances that saw them pose such a threat during the early season months.
A top ten finish would still be a relative success, but good results in these FIVE fixtures is an absolute must if they are going to achieve that goal..
Leicester at home
Not many sides have found out how to, so stopping Riyad Mahrez isn’t exactly as easy as people may think it should be.
Saturday 19th March sees the current league leaders visit Selhurst Park and Leicester will have identified this fixture as one of their toughest matches as they chase the title.
The league’s leading scorers will be licking their lips at Palace’s defensive frailties and this risks being a humiliation for Pardew’s side.
Norwich at home
Norwich are on form that is so bad they are rivalling Aston Villa for the ‘worst team in the league’ tag at the moment.
The Canaries, to have any hope of staying up, will need to have had a change of fortunes by the time they meet Palace in April.
Pardew will be looking at this game as a must-win and anything other than three points in this one will make top ten a bit too hard.
Everton at home
One of the league’s most feared strikers visits Selhurst Park on Saturday 23rd April, with Everton eyeing up a late run for the Europa League spots.
Lukaku is clearly their biggest threat, but Palace will be optimistic about the frightening pace and skill of Wilfried Zaha and Yannick Bolasie running at Everton’s shaky back line.
Stoke away
Stoke City visit Selhurst Park for the penultimate game of the Premier League season and, depending on the results between now and then, they could be neck and neck in the table.
The Potters have been inconsistent for large periods of this campaign and have fluctuated between a Europa League challenge and the tedium of mid-table.
Southampton away
After how close Palace came to signing Charlie Austin, this fixture has a little bit of extra spice.
Palace are currently a distance behind Saints in the league table, but the final day fixture could have the sides much closer.
Palace’s performances are improving game by game at the moment, whilst Southampton have been hugely inconsistent and could easily drop out of Europa League contention.