May 13 2005

Iain Dowie

Iain Dowie hopes his side can put on a performance to make the club proud on Sunday and hope for favourable results elsewhere in the fight to remain in the Premiership, by Stuart Pink.

The draw with Southampton last Saturday means that Norwich are the only team in the bottom four to have their destiny in their own hands.

But Dowie remains upbeat and is hoping for the second successive year his team can pull off a miracle.

He said: "We've got to stay positive and we'll go to Charlton and put on a real good display.

"We need time to reflect and we had to win at Charlton anyway so let's make Norwich, Southampton and West Brom do their job because I want to go out with a display to show what this club is about."

To stay up, Palace effectively have to hope Norwich and Southampton fail to win, or beat a possible Southampton win by two goals.

But three points for the Canaries against Fulham at Craven Cottage will be enough for Nigel Worthington's men to stay up, but a draw or a defeat could let in either Southampton, Palace or West Brom, providing they all win.

Norwich are the in-form team out of the bottom four sides, winning four out of their last seven games, but reassuringly for Palace fans they will have to do what they have yet to achieve this season to stay up win away from home.

Southampton have the hardest fixture out of the four teams, hosting third placed Manchester United at St Mary's to stand any hope of staying up. They will also have to do it without the suspended Peter Crouch after his red card at Selhurst Park on Saturday.

Live Croydon Guardian text commentary