Crystal Palace Goalkeeper Julian Speroni Wary of Negative Set-up

Julian Speroni believes Crystal Palace have to approach their game at Tottenham as a match they can win -or they risk falling into the relegation battle.

The Eagles currently sit 15th in the Barclays Premier League table but are just one point clear of the bottom three ahead of their trip to White Hart Lane on Saturday.

Neil Warnock's side had taken four points from clashes with Liverpool and Swansea before a home defeat to fellow strugglers Aston Villa on Tuesday evening and could find themselves in the relegation zone if Spurs can see them off.

But Speroni feels a safety-first approach could have a detrimental effect on Palace, especially if they make the short trip to north London intent on sitting back and looking to leave with a point.

"It's a week where we need to prepare well and make sure the recovery is spot-on. It'll be a tough challenge for us but we're looking forward to it," the Argentina goalkeeper told the club's official website.

"We've been creating a lot, especially against Villa, and we hope to do that against Tottenham too. Any point away from home is always a good point but if you go into games with that mentality then you tend to lose. You have to go out there thinking you can win, try to win and then see what happens.

"We try not to think too much about what has happened before, we try to prepare for every game in the same manner. We know it's going to be a tough challenge but we have the confidence to go there and try and win the game because of the performances we've had lately."

Palace finished 11th last season under the stewardship of former manager Tony Pulis and were 12 points clear of Norwich in the final relegation position.

But Speroni thinks the table could be much closer this campaign, with eight points currently separating the bottom half.

"It'll probably go down to the last few games of the season," he said.

"We're going to have to perform as well as we've been doing but the margins are so small so we need to pick up some points.

"You always look for other results after a game to see how other teams are doing but I don't think you have to think too much about it because it's going to be a tough season.

"We showed last year the difference between the bottom of the table and halfway up is so close, and you can quickly climb if you get a win as there's little difference between the teams.

"After the Villa game I couldn't understand how we didn't get a point out of the game. We had so many chances but for some reason the ball didn't seem to want to go in so we ended up losing, but I was pleased with the performance because we played really well."