Damian Delaney reckons Crystal Palace looked like their old selves in last weekend’s 0-0 draw at QPR.

And the defender, enjoying a clean sheet in the Premier League for only the fourth time this season, is desperate to maintain the momentum going into the New Year’s Day game at Villa Park.

He said: “QPR had a couple of half chances but we had chances as well, so we’re disappointed not to win it.

“But in the grand scheme of things after what happened on Boxing Day [against Southampton], I am feeling nothing but joy.

“We looked like our old selves, coming off a solid and defensive shape really and we were unlucky not to win in the end.

“We have to take that into the Villa game.”

He added: “Clean sheets are built on a collective effort, even though we haven’t been getting many of them this season, when we are keeping clean sheets everyone gets the credit.

“When we’re not scoring goals everyone gets the blame so it’s not about individual groups, we always try to make it a collective thing.

“We have been here before [in a relegation fight], and a lot of us have come from that type of background.

“It might not be much of an advantage but hopefully we won’t panic when push comes to shove and see who we get in as manager and get away from the relegation zone.”