Dougie Freedman

“With a 14 point gap between us and the relegation zone, it would seem the Eagles will be able to breathe easy come the final round of fixtures”

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It's not been a happy start to the year for the Eagles, and for many Palace fans after Tuesday's draw with our South Coast rivals there's little left to look forward to in the 2011/12 season. Dont be burning your season ticket yet Selhurst Park faithful, there's still plenty to look forward to this year

Not being in a relegation battle on the last day of the season

Granted there's a long way to go and it would be tempting fate to suggest Palace are already safe, but with a 14 point gap between us and the relegation zone, it would seem the Eagles will be able to breathe easy come the final round of fixtures.

After two seasons of struggling against relegation until the end, top of many fans'wishlist for this season was a comfortable mid-table finish. It will be nice to sit back and watch supporters of other sides deal with the stress of relegation. If those fans included Millwall, that would be all the sweeter.

More attacking outlook

Now that Palace's important games are out of the way perhaps we'll see Dougie experiment with a more attacking outlook.

In the big games this season we've kept it tight at the back looking for 1-0 victories. With the pressure off we could test out Murray and Easter up front or even replacing one of our defensive midfielders with the more attack-minded Owen Garvan.

Maturing of academy graduates

Four months with the pressure off could be the chance for the youngsters to flourish and become more complete players for the 2012/13 season.

With a little extra time to mature Zaha can learn to improve his crossing and shooting, Williams can start to dominate Championship midfields, and new signing Appiah will have an opportunity to adjust to life in the Championship.

If nothing else itll be nice to watch the final performances of Nathaniel Clyne in a red and blue shirt before he departs for the Premier League.

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