Sam Allardyce stated that Crystal Palace have started their recovery from relegation trouble, after his side recorded an impressive 2-0 win against West Bromwich Albion on Saturday afternoon.
Wilfried Zaha and Andros Townsend both scored in the second-half as Palace won their second game on the bounce, moving out of the relegation zone in the process.
The start of recovery, says Allardyce
Speaking to the media after the clash, Allardyce said: "It's the start of recovery, with back-to-back wins."
He hailed Palace's "performance both in and out of possession" saying that it gave the Eagles "the platform for victory."
On the win, Allardyce said "It's a great lift for us all because we’ve got both sides of the game right, kept the crowd quiet and punished them.
"What turns it around is clean-sheets, the three victories I’ve had have always been clean-sheet victories.
"Those two [centre-backs] today were really strong. Mama’s not played a game of football for a long time, that’s his first two Premier League games of the season and I’m just looking forward to him carrying on."
No joy for Benteke
It wasn't all perfect for Palace as Christian Benteke endured another frustrating afternoon, one which included a half-time booking for speaking back at the referee.
Saying that his striker is "frustrated because he wants to score" Allardyce commented on the Belgian's coming together with Jonny Evans, and the 'afters' of a challenge between the pair.
The game's gone soft if there's no afters," said Allardyce. "Have a chat with me later and I’ll show you what real afters are. I’ll show you how I used to talk about the hospital menu. If you get wound up by ‘afters’ you shouldn’t be playing the game."
One piece of brilliance from Townsend sealed the game for Palace, as he ran from one half to the other before finishing past Ben Foster, wrapping up the three points.
Saying that it was "our [Palace's] top goal of the season", Allardyce joked that "I thought we were going to have to give him some oxygen" as Townsend wearily returned to his starting position after scoring.
What got under Big Sam's skin?
Having gone through a difficult start to life at Palace, Allardyce responded to a question over if he's still feeling a 'broken man' following various newspaper reports a few weeks ago.
‘We’re not safe yet," said the victorious manager. "I’ll answer that one when we’ve secured our Premier League status. It slightly got under my skin, but I’ll hopefully have my day when we’re safe."
Two weeks, potentially, for PVA
Finally, on Patrick Van-Aanholt, who was stretchered off, Allardyce said that he's "twisted his ankle" and therefore "hurt his ankle ligaments".
When asked about a possible time-frame for his return, the Englishman offered "two weeks" as a possible date for the full-back to return to training, but said he'd be "surprised" if the January signing was fit to play in the next few games.