Alan Pardew backs Crystal Palace to turn form around

Crystal Palace manager Alan Pardew has backed his side to "come good" and recover from their recent poor spell of form.

The Eagles have lost their last five matches to leave them 16th in the Premier League table, just one point clear of the relegation zone.

Palace are yet to keep a clean sheet in the league this season, and Pardew acknowledged that ending that run needs to be top of their priority list.

"I can look back at [recent] games and say they were really tight, even the Liverpool game which was probably the one where our performance was not as good as the opposition," he told reporters.

"The other games we have been really tight. We obviously should have got something at Burnley and we had Man City last week. We have a good group and I admire them, we could lose faith a bit but I haven't seen that and I think they will come good.

"Our problem is not scoring goals and at this level that is a big thing. We need to stop conceding, especially the first goal, it puts us on the back foot and makes us chase games so a clean sheet and a first goal is probably on the top of the agenda."

Palace will take on fellow strugglers Swansea City at the Liberty Stadium on Saturday.