With just 10 games remaining for the majority of Premier League teams, there is now no margin for error with the season soon to reach its conclusion.

Two sides are battling it out for the coveted Premier League title, four clubs are going head-to-head for the all-important fourth Champions League position and as many as nine teams are in the unenviable relegation dogfight.

All associated with Crystal Palace will be resting far more easily this season than from this time last campaign when we were four positions worse off with 27 points and, most scarily, just two points from the dreaded drop.

It’s fair to say 12 months later we feel a lot more comfortable about our Premier League survival prospects, as we sit happily in 12th and eight points clear from the bottom three.

Nevertheless, it would be foolish to believe that we are already safe.

This is Crystal Palace after all.

Unfortunately, you can be sure those Palace supporters old enough to remember (not me!) will have no difficulties recalling the 1992-1993 season, where the Eagles dropped on the last day in seemingly improbable circumstances.

Oldham were rock bottom with just 10 games remaining before going on to stun the world of football as they recorded five wins and three draws, including a 4-3 victory of Southampton on the final day to complete a remarkable recovery at the expense of Palace.

Starting with a crucial six-pointer this weekend against QPR, Alan Pardew’s men have an attractive flurry of fixtures, four of which are at home, to give the optimists in the Palace camp a real belief we can continue our longest stay in the Premier League in our history.

A victory against Chris Ramsey’s Rangers could see the club 11 points clear of the drop with just nine matches to play.

However, we can’t afford to see the deficit begin to shorten, especially when there are a number of clubs playing each other at the bottom of the table this weekend.

Saturday’s early kick-off in front of the cameras is undoubtedly more important for QPR, but the repercussions of the result for Pardew’s Palace have been somewhat understated.

Victory should be enough to at least forget about relegation for the time-being, but defeat could easily activate the panic stations.

Follow us on Twitter @NewsShopperSprt