Crystal Palace are currently in Morocco for a spell of warm-weather training and manager Sam Allardyce believes the time abroad will benefit his side in their battle against relegation.

The Eagles lifted themselves out of the Premier League’s bottom three last Saturday, as second-half goals by Wilfried Zaha and Andros Townsend guided them to a vital 2-0 win at West Bromwich Albion.

That made it back-to-back wins for the first time since Allardyce took charge just before Christmas, building on their 1-0 home victory over Middlesbrough, who have replaced them in the relegation zone.

A free weekend, with their match against Tottenham Hotspur postponed due to their opponents’ FA Cup commitments, gave Palace a chance for the change in scenery.

Allardyce said: “The need for warm weather training, both physically and mentally, is without a doubt one of the reasons I have been a manager for so many years, and the players have been successful in increasing their performance.

“The toils and tribulations they go through during Christmas and New Year are very intense and the weather is terrible in England.

“We’ve got the sunshine here and so the lads can hugely increase their Vitamin D intake because of it, which makes everything better.

“When we get back hopefully the lads will reap the benefits. I’m not saying that it will make results an instant success, but it’ll give us a better capability to get them.”

It has only taken Morgan Schneiderlin three home games at Goodison Park to understand how special the Everton support on a matchday is.

The former Southampton and Manchester United midfielder has started the last trio of home games for the Toffees.

In that time they downed Manchester City, Bournemouth and Sunderland and currently sit seventh in the Premier League table.

And while the iconic Z-Cars song has already struck a chord in his heart, Schneiderlin also now understands how important it is for the Blues to live up to the club’s storied traditions.

“In my first game against Manchester City, when we won 4-0, it set the standard with the tempo,” said the January recruit. “I like the music when we come out on the pitch and the atmosphere at the end. I love it.

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“But the atmosphere comes with doing well and winning matches. If we keep winning, I’m sure the fans will keep singing very loud.

“When we have to dig in and games are a bit harder, they will keep singing to give us more energy.
“It’s a big club with big expectations. There’s a lot of tradition with the things that the fans want. I’m relishing this challenge.

“The challenge at Manchester United was big as well, so I’m used to it. Hopefully we can improve as a squad and make this club even bigger.”

Arsenal defender Hector Bellerin admits the fans’ reaction after their Champions League humiliation by Bayern Munich was humbling.

The Gunners went down 5-1 at home on Tuesday evening, making the aggregate score 10-2 to the German giants and marking a new low in Arsenal’s dismal recent record in the knock-out stages of Europe’s elite competition.

Arsene Wenger’s position as manager now hangs by a thread with Arsenal having fallen away in the Premier League and preparing to face non-league Lincoln City in the FA Cup this weekend.

But Bellerin, who Wenger plucked from the Barcelona academy as a teenager, has defended the manager and insists the side are fully focused on getting Arsenal’s fans back on their side.

“I’m really hurt to see the fans leave the stadium so early,” said the 21-year-old defender.

“At the end of the day we play for them, want them to be happy, to be behind us, and it hurts to see them leave so early.

“We just need to try to make them happy with the rest of our season. We know we’ve got the players and the potential to do well, we just need to play every game the same way that we started against Bayern.

“If we play that kind of football, we can be up there. We have to say sorry to the fans because we want to do better than that.

“The whole team is behind the manager. He’s the one who has made the team work. In football, sometimes you’re high and sometimes you experience lows.

“Now is a low point for us but we only have to look at ourselves to do something. With the help of everyone, we can make it through.”

Liverpool’s midfield goal machine Sadio Mane may be enjoying his most prolific season in English football so far, but he insists breaking his own records is not what motivates him to score.

The 24-year-old, who joined the Reds from Premier League rivals Southampton last summer for a £34million fee, notched up his 12th goal of the league campaign in Liverpool’s 3-1 victory over Arsenal last weekend.

The topped his highest single-season tally during his time at St. Mary’s, and given his month away from England on AFCON duty with Senegal, Mane’s record is all the more impressive.

His link-up play with Philippe Coutinho, Adam Lallana and Roberto Firmino has been a highlight of Liverpool’s season so far, despite their stuttering start to 2017, but Mane is focused only on helping the team win rather than hitting the net himself.

“Honestly, I’m a player who doesn’t give importance to these kinds of things. I’m a team player,” he said.

“The only important thing, always, is to score goals for the team and so the team wins. That’s what is always important for us, not whether Adam [Lallana] scores, or I score, or Philippe [Coutinho] scores or someone else. The more important thing is the three points.

“The performance of the team [against Arsenal] was amazing, everybody was giving their best and pushing hard.

“It’s good for us, especially the strikers, to score – and it’s important for the confidence of the team as well.

“The work of the team was so great; we have players who work as a team. We’re going to try to keep going.”

West Ham midfielder Michail Antonio cannot wait to make his Hammers return after missing Monday night’s defeat to Chelsea at the London Stadium.

After his dismissal in the Hammers’ 1-1 draw with Watford at Vicarage Road, Antonio was forced to watch from the stands as league-leaders Chelsea claimed a 2-1 victory in east London.

Antonio will be available for selection for Slaven Bilic’s side and admitted he will be raring to go when they travel to the south coast to take on Bournemouth, who will be brimming with confidence after a credible 1-1 draw at Old Trafford last time out.

And Antonio, who is the club’s top scorer this season with eight to his name so far, is hoping he can rediscover the form he showed against Bournemouth earlier in the season when he netted the first goal at London Stadium.

(Photo by Gareth Copley/Getty Images)

“I hate having to watch and didn’t really know what to do with myself when I was watching the game,” he said.

“You always want to play your part, but I wasn’t able to. Hopefully we can turn it around on Saturday.

“Playing Bournemouth brings back memories of my goal against them earlier in the season. It’s a good memory and good to be in the history books for the first goal at the London Stadium, so hopefully I can get another one down there.

“We’ve been on a good run away from home, and Monday’s game won’t knock us back in any way. We’ll we raring to go.”

Wes Morgan insists Leicester City still have plenty of work to do despite back-to-back Premier League wins moving them clear of the relegation zone.

Two 3-1 victories within a week, against Liverpool and Hull, have helped the Foxes jump five points clear of Middlesbrough, who are 18^th in the league table.

And with interim manager Craig Shakespeare expected to be given the job until the end of the season, captain Morgan won’t let Leicester rest on their laurels.

“We still have a little work to do. It is not all done-and-dusted but we are moving in the right direction, and that is a positive thing,” he said.

“It has been positive. We have picked up our performances and we are doing well. We just want to concentrate on keeping doing what we are doing and hopefully we will finish the season strong.

(Photo by Stephen Pond/Getty Images)

“We are just taking each game as it comes. We want to go out there and first of all battle, work hard and then the quality will come through. I think you saw that with Riyad [Mahrez]’s goal. It was fantastic.

“Hopefully we can go on a run and keep up the good work. Last season, Vards [Jamie Vardy] and Riyad showed what they were capable of all throughout.

“It has not gone their way as much this season, but they’ve produced the goods of late and hopefully they can continue.”

Tottenham Hotspur midfielder Dele Alli is hoping he and Harry Kane can continue their prolific goalscoring ways after the duo fired their side to victory against Everton last weekend.

Alli scored the decisive goal in the 3-2 win at White Lane Lane, after Kane had earlier opened up a 2-0 lead with a brace, meaning they have now scored 18 out of Spurs’ 20 Premier League goals between them since the turn of the year.

Kane had other chances to complete what would have been his fourth hat-trick in ten games, but he has still struck 15 goals in his last 13 matches in all competitions.

Alli, meanwhile, is on a similar hot streak with ten in his last 11 league games and the 21-year-old is hoping there is more to come in Sunday’s FA Cup quarter final against Millwall.

(Photo by Michael Regan/Getty Images)

“It’s not just his goalscoring – Harry holds up play and he gets involved in all the link-ups. He’s an unbelievable striker and it’s a pleasure to play alongside him,” Alli said.

“He had a few chances to get another hat-trick on Sunday and I’m sure he’ll be kicking himself that he didn’t get three, but I think that shows what sort of player he is.

“As long as he carries on scoring, he’s a great part of the team but it’s not just that – he’s a leader from the top as well. As I said, it’s a pleasure to keep playing in the team with him.”

Theo Walcott is hoping to quickly put Arsenal’s Champions League humbling against Bayern Munich behind him with Saturday’s FA Cup quarter final against Lincoln City on the horizon.

The ten-man Gunners were hammered 5-1 by the German champions at the Emirates Stadium on Tuesday night to complete a 10-2 aggregate defeat – a record for an English side in the competition.

Walcott gave Arsenal faint hope of overturning a 5-1 deficit from the first leg by scoring the opening goal after 20 minutes, but that was buried following Laurent Koscielny’s red card after half-time, when the hosts collapsed.

But Arsene Wenger’s beleaguered side have the chance to raise morale as they face non-league opposition for the second round in a row in the cup when they welcome Lincoln.

Walcott said: “We should’ve been smart and just [opted for] damage limitation really. It’s just a big shame.

(Photo by Tolga Akmen/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images)

“People will be saying that we don’t care and stuff like this but obviously we do care. There’s loads of players who are very hurt, completely, in the dressing room.

“We’ve got Lincoln at the weekend where we’re massive favourites to win that game. We need to move on very quickly from this disappointment.

“We can’t say, ‘if this happened, or if that happened’. That’s the worst thing in football. It’s a good opportunity to go to Wembley and we need to take it.

“We’ve got a great opportunity there and then we need to work on the league position.”

Liverpool may have suffered a largely frustrating February but Sadio Mane claims the club have turned a corner now that March is in full swing.

After returning from Africa Cup of Nations duty, Mane was a rare bright spot last month in disappointing away losses to Hull and Leicester, as well as netting a match-winning double in the 2-0 victory over Spurs.

That triumph kept the Reds in the top-four hunt and they convincingly beat Arsenal 3-1 last weekend, to further boost morale.

Photo by Julian Finney/Getty Images

Mane has now reached double figures for goals this season and is looking forward after being named as Liverpool’s player of the month for February.

“I’m very happy to be nominated by the fans,” said Mane, upon receiving the prize. “I’m just looking forward to doing my best for the team.

“It was a difficult few weeks. We were struggling and it wasn’t easy for us, for the club and for the fans. But it’s part of football.

“Now it’s behind us and the confidence is back. We’re going to do our best until the end of the season to make the fans proud and happy.

“The support of the fans was amazing. We want to thank everybody for the amazing support. We’re looking forward to getting more support.”

Adam Clayton may not have made an appearance for Manchester City but the Middlesbrough midfielder insists the club still had a major influence on his career.

The 28-year-old comes up against City this weekend in the FA Cup quarter-finals, with a place at Wembley guaranteed for the winners.

Clayton joined City’s academy aged seven but left in 2010 when he found his path to the first-team blocked by global superstars such as David Silva and Yaya Touye.

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But he holds no grudges and is looking forward to Saturday’s titanic clash as Boro look to put their woeful league form behind them and upset the odds.

“City shaped the way I play football. Without them I don’t know where I’d be today,” he said.

“It’s not like I feel I used to play for City now, it was so long ago, but they definitely had a hand in making me who I am.

“I’ve played in many foreign countries and gained valuable life experience with them, so I’ll be forever thankful to the coaching staff that brought me through.”