ALAN PARDEW didn't mean to gee up Chelsea ahead of this afternoon's London derby, but his prophesy of doom about their top six prospects this season will probably have done so.
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| Crystal Palace boss Alan Pardew reckons Chelsea won't secure European football |
You can just imagine what John Terry and Co are now thinking after the Palace boss who used to support Chelsea as a boy last night dismissed their chances of claiming a coveted place in Europe again next season - unless they win the Champions League or the FA Cup, that is.
To be fair to him his prediction looks spot on as things stand right now. But it's the sort of unintended kick up the backside that could rebound on him today.
He said: "Chelsea will push, but I think they are going to find it hard to get into the top six.
"They could possibly catch us, but it will be very difficult for them to catch Leicester, Stoke, Everton and Liverpool, for instance."
His 'catch us if you can' message clearly served to illustrate some of the amazing turn ups in the Premier League in what he describes as "a freak year" for Chelsea but a fairytale one for Palace.
Pardew freely admits that if anyone had suggested this time last year that Palace, Leicester or even Watford would be where they are today with Chelsea languishing at the other end of the table he would have questioned their sanity.
"It's been an astonishing year and the Premier League has been shook up a bit," he says. "We have definitely upped our game and it's a season that's thrown up a few surprises.
"I don't think anyone would doubt that the middle pack downwards has improved. The Leicester's, the Stoke's, the Everton's, the Liverpool's are all good sides while the top teams, for whatever reason, are just struggling a little bit.
"It is a bit like a glass ceiling. Suddenly the opportunity has come for us to get past the big teams and because we have been able to go out and buy better players we can compete."
Pardew pinpoints the 25 player squad rule as a major factor in the upturn in fortunes of so called lesser lights like Palace. And one of the reasons why Chelsea suddenly find themselves as underdogs this afternoon.
He says: "It has helped us because Chelsea haven't got that squad of 30/35 anymore that enabled them to carry players. They have to rely on young players and that has made a bigger impact than we all thought.
"It is a freak year for Chelsea which I don't think is going to happen again. It is an opportunity for us, but I have no doubt these teams will come back in the second half of the season."
Caretaker boss Guus Hiddink is another reason why Pardew reckons Chelsea will be back sooner rather than later.
"He is one of a small bunch of managers who has been top of his game and won lots of trophies and you can tell he has got that kind of experience that will settle Chelsea down," Pardew said.
"It needed a certain character to follow Jose and Guus is a good choice in the interim."
Can Palace pip the champions this season?
"It depends on when we get our injured players back," Pardew added. "Yannick Bolasie and Connor Wickham are very important for us, so that will have a big impact. The next two months are going to be very important for us.
"By that time those players will be back, so if we can get two or three wins during that period you can ask me that question again."
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