Eagles defender Damien Delaney attributed Crystal Palace’s sensational victory against Chelsea at Selhurst Park on Saturday to Tony Pulis’ expertly crafted game plan.

The south Londoners, who began the weekend precariously positioned three points outside of the Premier League drop zone, stood toe to toe with Jose Mourinho’s expensively assembled side.

Palace defended resolutely and broke with pace and precision, and although the winning goal came via slightly fortuitous circumstances, with John Terry heading Joel Ward's cross into his own net, Delaney insists that the three points was the least Palace deserved.

He said: "It wasn’t lucky at all. Our game plan worked really well although a second goal would have made it a lot easier on my heart - I’m a bit old to keep going into injury time at 0-0 or winning 1-0.

“We’re good at stifling teams and we have done it to a lot of teams this year. We might not be the most pleasing on the eye or the best thing to look at but as long as we’ve got more points than three other teams at the end of the season then we won’t mind about that.”

Palace have never preserved their Premier League status since the league’s inception, and Delaney knows exactly what it would mean for the club and it’s fans if they are able to achieve that this season.

He said: “If we could stay up this year, what it would do for this club is amazing but we’ve got to do it and that is what we are concentrating on.

“The fans were brilliant and I’m not just saying that. It was deafening at times, especially when we took the lead and that’s how they have been all year.

"They’ve stuck with us throughout with the possible exception of the Fulham game.

“Hopefully we can give them another year in the Premier League.”