Crystal Palace star James Tomkins heaps praise on Sam Allardyce: 'He's the man to get us out of this situation'

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Crystal Palace defender James Tomkins has emphasised the belief there is in the camp that the club will get out of trouble under Sam Allardyce.

Allardyce steered Sunderland to Premier League safety last season after being appointed as their boss in October of that campaign, and has never been relegated from the division.

He faces a considerable-looking 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.

Crystal Palace defender James Tomkins has backed Sam Allardyce to keep the Eagles up

Allardyce needs to change his side's results around in order to avoid relegation

In a tight battle at the bottom end of the table, the Eagles are currently 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 ended up beaten again, 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 February 25.

And Tomkins, quoted by his 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 - as are mid-table Stoke, who are next in action when they take on Tottenham away in the league on February 26.

Stoke midfielder Joe Allen piled more misery on Palace by netting the winner on Saturday

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, insisting it was a case of not getting 'the right flights, the right hotel' and that Palace would still take such a trip 'probably' during the March international break.

Stoke are heading out to the Middle East next week, and Potters boss Mark Hughes said on the club's website: 'We will go away for a few days for some training and hopefully we will be able to get several players back and ready for the game at Tottenham in two weeks' time.

'(January signing) Saido Berahino will benefit from the trip having only recently arrived here whilst guys like Geoff Cameron and Xherdan Shaqiri will also benefit from an extra week of training following their injuries.

'The break has come at a good time for us to be perfectly honest, so we will look forward to it, utilise it correctly and hopefully be in really good shape for the next game.'