The Eagles have soared from second bottom to seventh in a little over four months, but the former United manager says: "The pressure is off us. Nobody expects us to do anything. and quite rightly so, we can enjoy it."

It could be an attempt by the canny former Blades boss to keep tension out of his squad, as they stand only one point and one place off the play-off zone.

Striker James Scowcroft said after last week's 2-0 home win against Barnsley: "We do look at the league table and at the moment we are there or thereabouts - there's still seven games to go and a lot can happen in that time.

"But there's definitely pressure that comes with that. If you look at all the teams above us in the league, I think the pressure is getting to them."

High fliers West Brom and Bristol City both lost at home last week.

City and leaders Stoke - who drew - both have 10 points more than Palace, so an automatic promotion spot looks extremely unlikely for Warnock's men, who also trail Watford, the Baggies, Hull and Plymouth.

Warnock is probably right to say that Palace are not one of the most fancied teams, in many people's eyes. But a top-six finish is a distinct possibility.

Palace, unbeaten in March, certainly appear to have a better chance of the play-offs than Wednesday had a year ago.

The Owls were on a winning streak of their own when they went to Selhurst Park with seven games left last March - and they kept it up with a 2-1 victory.

Wednesday had a chance of the top six at that time but were only 11th.

Deep down, they knew they were not going to go up, so they were playing with freedom and confidence.

Warnock no doubt seeks the same sort of uninhibited attitude from his players now, but there is no denying Palace's position in the table.

Five months ago the Eagles were in the bottom two.

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They also picked up only two points in February - a lean spell that followed a revival under Warnock.

Defender Clint Hill says that a team meeting involving players and staff after last month's final game, a 2-0 home defeat by Wolves, was a turning point.

"We had a chat about those five games in February just to see where things were going wrong." he says.

"Everyone was involved because we are all in it together and we needed to sort a few things out.

"After the Wolves game, we came in on the Sunday and just had 45 minutes talking about what we can do to freshen things up, because we looked a bit stale.

"It was a positive chat, there wasn't any arguing or anything like that, and it seems to have done the trick."

Palace have made life hard for opposing teams lately, and got a 1-1 draw at West Brom. Warnock says: "Someone at West Brom commented that they wouldn't want to play us again - and I don't think many people would.

"I'm not making any apologies. We're not the finished article yet, and you can only do what you can do with what you've got.


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