Sam Allardyce says his survival know-how can save Crystal Palace but warns scrap will go to wire

Sam Allardyce hopes his survival know-how will help keep Crystal Palace up but has warned their relegation scrap will go down to the wire.

Palace dropped into the bottom three for the first time this season after they lost 1-0 against Everton at Selhurst Park on Saturday.

Allardyce is struggling to have the impact many expected from a manager who has never been relegated from the Premier League.

But he hopes his experience of successful relegation battles with West Ham and Sunderland will help him get Palace out of trouble.

He said: “I can say, ‘Look I have been here before and I know what it takes to get out of this’. But I can only do that if you respond. That is a process that is unrelenting from now to the end of the season.

“At West Ham we won five on the trot when we were in the bottom three. Sunderland was a slower process. We will not be safe until the last two weeks, if we are lucky.”