Sam Allardyce reveals how he has dealt with sleepless nights in Crystal Palace survival bid
Allardyce's Eagles face Hull this weekend and a draw would see Premier League safety secured
IT WILL be a case of Sleepless in South London for Sam Allardyce tonight as he sweats over survival.
The Crystal Palace boss admits he struggles to nod off before games at the best of times.
And with his side hosting third-bottom Hull tomorrow in a relegation humdinger, Big Sam fears it could be a long night.
So after finishing watching TV show Billions, he is on the hunt for a new series to help calm the nerves.
A draw at Selhurst Park would be enough to keep Palace up.
And Allardyce said: “I don’t sleep well before any games. I tend to watch box sets on TV but I’m actually running out — I could really do with a new one.”
Whatever nerves he may be feeling, Allardyce will try to avoid heaping any extra pressure on his players.
Palace have suffered three straight defeats, including last weekend’s 5-0 thumping at Manchester City.
But Allardyce insists this is no time for rabble-rousing speeches.
He said: “It’s the players’ responsibility to handle the situation, isn’t it? So I won’t put them under any more pressure than they need to be under.
“They’ll still feel the tension, no matter what. How they deal with it is going to be the key factor against Hull.
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“It’s not about a team talk or doing something in the dressing room.
“If we have to do that, we’ve failed miserably as staff in our preparation.”
But there is no doubting the message Allardyce has drilled into his players on the eve of the game.
He added: “It’s all about thinking back to the good results we’ve gained.
“You must say to yourself, ‘We don’t want to waste beating Chelsea away, Liverpool away and Arsenal at home’.
“They were terrific performances at a time when we never expected to put ourselves in this position we’re in now.
“We got ourselves in a great position to stay up with five games to go.
“Since then we’ve slipped up — now we’ve got to make sure we finish it off.
“But if you had said when I started in December that we would need a point against Hull to stay up, I would have taken it with both hands.”