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James Tomkins: Crystal Palace players believe in escape under Sam Allardyce

Crystal Palace defender James Tomkins has said the players believe they will get out of relegation trouble under the management of Sam Allardyce.

Allardyce, who steered Sunderland to Premier League safety last season after being appointed in October, has never been relegated from the division.

He faces what looks like a considerable challenge to maintain that record with Palace, who have won only one and lost six of their eight league matches since he took charge in December.

In a tight battle at the bottom of the table, the London club are 19th and on the same amount of points as basement boys Sunderland, who thrashed them 4-0 at Selhurst Park last weekend.

They were far more solid at Stoke on Saturday but rarely posed much attacking threat and were beaten as Joe Allen's 67th-minute strike steered the hosts to a 1-0 win.

Next up for Palace is a home clash with fellow strugglers Middlesbrough on Feb. 25.

And Tomkins, speaking to the club's official website, said: "It's another big game.

"We'll keep going and there is no better man in charge to get us out of this situation.

"We all believe in him and all the lads believe in each other. We've got a good dressing room with a lot of experience in there.

"That will be important with the games coming up and in this situation -- we'll stay positive and hopefully get a big win in the next game."

Palace's two-week gap between fixtures has come about due to them being out of the FA Cup.

Earlier this week, Allardyce said reports of his plans for a training camp in Dubai during the coming fortnight being cancelled due to the loss to Sunderland were not entirely accurate.

He added that it was a case of not getting "the right flights, the right hotel" and that Palace would still take such a trip, probably in the March international break.

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