Pardew aims for Europe

European football is on the radar for Crystal Palace after a tremendous start to the Premier League season, and manager Alan Pardew is daring to dream.

Palace scored a huge win over Stoke City when Lee Chung-yong scored a delightful effort to seal a 2-1 win at the Britannia Stadium, moving level on points with Manchester United who occupy fifth in the table.

“We’ve got ourselves into sixth position and we want to fight and stay there, that’s really our priority,” he said. “But to fight there means you have to look up, and we’re looking up, and that’s the type of manager I am.”

Pardew said it was pleasing to see clubs like his own and Leicester City destabilising the established order in the Premier League, adding that it had been a great feature of this season.

“We were all beginning to worry three or four years ago that it looked like the gap was only going to get bigger, and ironically it hasn’t, and for all the money that’s being spent, we’re getting the quality of 11 players on the pitch that are not too far away from some of the top teams,” Pardew said.

“You look at Leicester’s result at Everton – we’re not letting it rest so therefore the top teams are probably more concerned than they’ve been for a long time… good.”