Crystal Palace manager Roy Hodgson has warned his side not to expect any easy games after seeing a difficult five-match run come to an end with defeat to Liverpool this afternoon.
The Eagles have faced Manchester City, Arsenal, Leicester City, Chelsea and Liverpool in succession, picking up just one point from the 15 on offer in that time to slip down to 13th in the Premier League table.
Palace do not face another member of the 'big six' until January 11, with their next eight matches all coming against teams currently no more than three points above them in the standings.
However, Hodgson insists that there are no easy games in the top flight and expects his side to have to battle just as hard for any victories during the upcoming run.
"I know some of these games coming up will be very difficult for us as well. Burnley, Watford away, Bournemouth, Brighton - these are very tough games too. We aren't Liverpool or Man City who have got the technical ability to blow these teams away, and players like [Sadio] Mane or [Mohamed] Salah, who score goals for fun, we have to work hard for all of our victories, be them against the top teams or the bottom teams," he told reporters at his post-match press conference.
"So to say I'm looking forward to the games would be a mistake, especially with regard to why we're in the Premier League. To be playing year after year against the Liverpools, the Chelsea, the Arsenals the Manchester Uniteds, that is something you really should appreciate and look forward to. You shouldn't ever be in any way critical about the fact that we've been handed a tough program, five top teams in a row, we haven't been able to beat them.
"I think we should be able to shrug that off to some extent, as long as the performances are satisfactory, and make certain that if there are any positives from those performances you can take forward - and I believe there are - then they're going to come forward into the matches we have now.
"For this club to have seven consecutive years in the Premier League is a good achievement, but we are desperate to make it eight and we are going to need to do that by getting points in the games that are coming up and not be beating ourselves up too much because we weren't able to get a point against Liverpool today."
Palace's current winless streak is their longest in the Premier League since a run of eight which came to an end in November 2018.
Barney Corkhill
