Alan Pardew will send out his Crystal Palace players tomorrow (Saturday) with a clear message – we need points.

The Eagles host Watford at Selhurst Park coming off the back of a 1-1 draw at Swansea City last weekend that ended a run of five Premier League games without a win.

The Hornets, one point and two places above Palace, previous league win came last month over Newcastle United.

Since then, they have beaten Nottingham Forest in the FA Cup, drawn at home to Chelsea and lost by a single goal at Tottenham Hotspur.

Pardew admitted his Eagles were in a sticky patch in the league, but also pointed to the Swansea City draw as a possible return to form.

“It's very rare that you'd go through a Premier League season without a difficult period,” he said.

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“This was ours. Hopefully that point puts us on the right track.

“But we need to collect points. We're at a pivotal part of our season really. We have the FA Cup game at Spurs [February 21] and we’re in the middle of a league programme.

“We need to try to win against a good Watford side, then welcome our guys back from injury and know that we're going to be much better going forward.”