IAN Holloway believes Glenn Murray has all the ingredients to fire Crystal Palace into the Premier League.

The striker took his seasonal tally to 15 with two more in Saturday’s 3-0 victory over Derby, a result which ensured the Eagles retained their position at the top of the Championship table.

Murray’s purple patch has continued since Holloway’s arrival ahead of the 2-0 win over Blackburn on November 3 with the 29-year-old hitting seven goals in the last four games.

And the new boss reckons Murray rates as highly as any forward he has worked with in his managerial career so far.

“As good, if not better than all of them,” the Selhurst chief replied when asked where Murray ranks in terms of strikers.

“His focus, everything about him, the way he goes about his game, the way he goes about his business, how hard he is to mark, how strong he is when the ball comes up – it is a really difficult job to do that as a lone striker.

“Sometimes I’ve heard in the past the team has been too deep to help him and get near him, now I’m trying to get us up the pitch he is absolutely in his element.

“It is not just his goals, it is what he does for the team.

“He is always alive in that box and to me he has scored seven but he could have had 11.”

Holloway added: “He is a perfect balance for the rest of the team, which is so good about Palace at the moment – the balance.

“Glenn is another one like Gary Taylor-Fletcher, you don’t realise until you work with them how good they actually are.

“If you look at his second goal against Derby, to have the whereabouts to actually run with it, hold that man off and then jink inside and lift it over the goalie with his left foot, it was quite incredible.

“He is a fantastic fellow as well.”

And does Murray have the ability to make a name for himself in the Premier League?

“Without a shadow of a doubt,” said Holloway.

“I hope he does it with Crystal Palace.”

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