Adrian Mariappa says he and his Crystal Palace team-mates are in good spirits despite suffering their fourth defeat in five matches against Manchester United on Saturday.

The Eagles frustrated United for long periods at Old Trafford but a deflected shot from Juan Mata in the second half condemned them to another defeat.

Palace remain just outside the bottom three on goal difference but Mariappa is confident they can climb the table.

He said: “We are in a bad run of form but we believe we will turn that round.

“We always believe in ourselves, we are a hard-working team and we graft for each other and we know that if we put performances in like we did at Old Trafford, we will get points on the board so we are very, very positive - we are not far off turning it round.

“The margins are very small.

Against Manchester United we were a deflection off getting a point.”

Neil Warnock’s side had shipped 19 goals in ten matches prior to their trip to Manchester but restricted the home side to few clear chances on Saturday and Mariappa believes the way the team defended bodes well for the future.

“Of late we have conceded more goals than we’d have liked to, so it was good to get back to being solid,” said the former Watford man.

“Anyone who knows us from last season knows that’s we’ve been all about.

“We wanted a clean sheet but we will be looking for those in the future.”

Things could have been different for the Eagles at Old Trafford had Fraizer Campbell converted a first half chance which he lobbed over the bar after Daley Blind and Paddy McNair misjudged a long ball.

Mariappa, however, refused to criticise the forward and backed him to get on the scoresheet soon.

“I am sure he would have expected to score that but you can’t fault him because the work he puts into the game is so important for the team,” he said.

“He scored important goals for us already this season and I know he’ll score many more.”

Returning to the side in place of Martin Kelly, Mariappa himself was given the unenviable task of keeping the most expensive player in British football history, Angel Di Maria, in check – a challenge the defender relished and enjoyed.

“It was a good experience,” said the 28-year-old.

“He is a world class player come from Real Madrid so it was a good test for me.

“I didn’t think he did too much in the game so I was happy with the way I played against him.”

Even though they have hit a difficult run of form Palace are still in a better position than this time last season when they were rock bottom with just four points.

Under the stewardship of Tony Pulis, the Eagles went on to pull themselves out of the mire and finish 11th and Mariappa believes that experience will help them in this campaign.

 “Our experiences from last year are something we can draw upon and this year should be no different,” he said.

“I think it is too early to be worried about being near the bottom three, I know what we have got in this dressing room.” 

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