Alan Pardew: 'Crystal Palace are in Champions League form'

Crystal Palace manager Alan Pardew has claimed that his side are in "top-four form" after they secured a shock 2-1 win against Premier League champions Manchester City on Monday night.

Despite being under siege for most of the game at Selhurst Park, the Eagles were two goals up by the 50-minute mark thanks to goals by Glenn Murray and Jason Puncheon.

Yaya Toure struck in the latter stages of the match to give the visitors hope of securing at least a draw, but Palace held on for all three points.

Pardew told BBC Sport after the game: "The game had a slightly warped feel to it.

"We got to half time and I felt we needed to make sure we capitalised as Manchester City were going to be under pressure for the last 20 minutes. But we managed to get a second goal.

"We had some really scary moments and we had to dig in and work hard. The character was strong tonight. We are in top-four form."

Palace climb to 11th in the table and can lay claim to being influential in the title race for the second year in a row, after their emphatic 3-3 draw against Liverpool a year ago killed off the Reds' challenge.