Crystal Palace boss Peter Taylor insists the Eagles are still heading in the right direction despite languishing in 18th place in the Championship going into the vital Christmas period.

Two consecutive defeats have seen Taylor's men slip to six points off the relegation zone, just as the Eagles looked to have put their shaky form behind them following a spell of good form earlier in the month.

Facing games against Sunderland on Friday night, Southampton, Cardiff and Norwich in the space of 11 days, the busy Christmas schedule could make or break Palace's season.

But Taylor is still confident his side can march up the table and be in promotion contention at the end of the season, despite their recent inconsistent form.

"I think we're heading in the right direction," said Taylor. "But we have lost the last few games and are in a poor position for the players that we have here.

"We'll just keeping working at it though, because the table doesn't lie."

The Palace boss may be forced to recall striker Dougie Freedman from a spell on the sidelines after the Eagles failed to create many clear-cut chances in the defeat against Derby County last Saturday.

The Scottish striker limped off during the Eagles' 3-0 demolition of Queens Park Rangers three weeks ago and did not feature in the defeats against Colchester United and the Rams.

However Taylor is expected to keep faith with Argentine goalkeeper Julien Speroni after giving him his first start of the season on Saturday.

The former Dundee shot-stopper had yet to feature under Taylor, but the Palace boss decided it was time Speroni got his chance to impress ahead of Scott Flinders.

"Julien is the only keeper at the club yet to be given a chance," said Taylor. "He's been the ultimate professional in training waiting for his chance and he did well against Derby."

Danny Butterfield could make his return to the Palace side against Roy Keane's men on Friday night after recovering from a groin strain.

The ex-Grimsby defender has not featured for the Eagles since picking up the injury against QPR but could return to the starting line-up in place of Matt Lawrence.

But the game will come too early for Leon Cort who is still recovering from the hamstring injury he picked up running up the stairs.

l Tommy Black has returned from his loan spell at Bradford City after he cracked a rib in the Bantams win over Chesterfield last Saturday.

The midfielder was set to spend another month at Valley Parade but Bradford boss Colin Todd has revealed the club have decided not to pursue Black for the time being.

"Tommy was going to stay for another month," said Todd. "It had been agreed with Palace, but unfortunately he had an X-ray when he went back on Sunday and then a scan on Monday which confirmed a crack.

"We just can't do it now. He'll be out for at least a month and because of the transfer window we can't do anything at the moment."