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| Crystal Palace boss Alan Pardew insists Stoke will need to worry about his side's away form |
BRITISH astronaut Tim Peake has taken a Stoke City flag with him on his six-month galactic adventure this week.
The Stoke fan has already been seeing stars this season as Mark Hughes' side have shaken off their reputation for rough-house football and emerged as one of the surprise teams in the Premier League by producing brilliant attacking play.
But this afternoon Alan Pardew and his Crystal Palace side will attempt to bring Peake back down to earth by unveiling their own form as away-day entertainers.
"We are in there with the top three clubs on away form and feel we carry a real threat," said Pardew. "We are taking on the top teams and going toe-to-toe with them.
"Stoke have got some very good players who will worry us, but we go there full of confidence, because we believe we have the quality to play against the very best teams now.
"There is not a lot between us and Stoke, and we both have enough talented players to make it a really open game.
"There is a lot riding on this match, we want to stay in sixth place, Stoke will have an offensive threat they have not had for some time, but they also need to worry about us."
Palace will need to be at their best at the back, and Pardew is looking for goalkeeper Wayne Hennessey to be his star man again.
"He is gradually closing in on Neville Southall's record number of 92 Welsh caps and has been terrific for us too," added Pardew.
"The only question mark against him was, could he produce the vital top-class saves that are so important if a keeper is going to be a great one?
"Well, he proved that against Everton, and again with two brilliant efforts against Southampton. The way he is playing he can only get better."
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