BY ANDREW MCTSEEN
Crystal Palace extended their unbeaten away form to six games in a row after their 2-0 victory at Fulham on Saturday – a record going back to their 0-0 draw at Bournemouth on Boxing Day.
The victory in west London also saw the team from SE25 win four consecutive away games in the top-flight for the first time ever, and all of them without conceding a goal – four 2-0 wins in a row.
But despite this scintillating away form, which sees the Eagles lie fourth in the Premier League away results table, on six wins with only Liverpool, Arsenal and Nottingham Forest above them, they sit in fifth-worst position for home league form, on just two wins from 12 games, with only Ipswich and Southampton (one win each) below them.
And Oliver Glasner’s side now face Villa in the league at Selhurst Park on Tuesday, having lost their last two Premier League games in South London.
“It’s nothing to do with confidence – the players always have confidence at home – but it’s more the pressure they feel that we have to win at home,” said manager Glasner in his pre-match media conference on Monday.
“I remember – and I don’t want to talk about it anymore – that when I arrived one year ago, it was always [that we were] conceding late goals. It was up to us to change it, and we had to work on it. [Now] it’s the same, but the more you focus on the result, the more you lose your focus on what it needs to get a good result. This is what we were talking about, this is what we are working on and now it’s the next chance for us to see how it works.
“Every single win was deserved – we were not lucky at all. The players did really well [and have been] very compact, disciplined [and shown] great commitment. Now we want to do it again. It’s helpful that we enter this game with a win at Fulham.
“But we have to shift our focus from winning to the performance and that’s what we have to do against Villa. This will be important, because they are a great team – a team with huge quality, with a clear structure of playing, and a team playing in the last 16 of the Champions League. A team with different goals than Crystal Palace.
“We need to perform at our best level and be very efficient, and then we have a chance to win. It’s important what we want to do in and out of possession. If we just show 90% of our level, and they play on their top level, we will lose and then it doesn’t matter if it’s an away or home game.
“We played them twice this season (Palace drew in the league and won in the league cup). We showed that it’s tough to play against us, that we also have skills where we can score against them, where we can create chances. It’s up to us to show it again. It doesn’t matter if it’s at Villa Park or if it’s at Selhurst Park, it’s just to show it and the players will give their best to show it and then let’s see how the result is.”
The game against Villa on Tuesday is just the fourth time this season that the Eagles have played a midweek top-flight game, with a loss against Forest and wins against Ipswich and Leicester – all away from south London – their reward so far.
But Glasner is quick to distance himself from any link to the last time a midweek Premier League game was played at Selhurst – the 4-0 win at home on Monday Night Football against Manchester United last season – despite that recent run of away results.
“I enjoy every game if we win, especially with a good performance, but I don’t really care if it’s a midweek game or if it’s at the weekend,” he said. “If the game is Saturday, three o’clock, Tuesday at 19:30, or Saturday when it’s 12:15, we have to be ready, and I know the players can do it.
“But it’s the Premier League. You can win. You can lose. Every game is decided by one, two, or three decisions or opportunities are taken. Every single game is so tight. We want to get the points so we can climb the table.”
PICTURE: KEITH GILLARD
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