September 3 2003

Steve Kember

Palace boss Steve Kember says he expected to get more than the 10 points his side have gained from their first five games this season.

Defeat against Sheffield United and a creditable draw at Millwall's New Den, brought Palace's three game winning streak to an end to leave the Eagles fifth in Division One.

The same five fixtures last year yielded just three points for his predecessor Trevor Francis, but Kember says that he expected at least one more point from the first five games.

He told the Croydon Guardian: "Looking at the fixtures, I would probably say I’m short of what I would have predicted from those games. I feel we would have won them all if we had got the rub of the green.

"But if on average we get two points per game, then we are not going to be too far away. But we will have to see where we are after 15 games."

Kember is not worried by Palace's poor disciplinary record with Tommy Black becoming the fifth Palace player sent off already this term.

He said: "The little spate of red cards (and suspensions) will be over after the Sunderland game and assuming we don't get any up there, we will have a clean bill of health."

Michael Hughes missed the Millwall match through suspension, but TONY POPOVIC and Tommy Black will be back for the home clash with Bradford.