London - Tony Pulis is looking like a man with the Midas touch after steering struggling Crystal Palace to their second consecutive victory on Saturday, 2-0 over fellow promoted side Cardiff City.
Palace were short of Premier League points and seemingly bereft of quality when Pulis took over from Ian Holloway last month but suddenly they appear like a team heading in the right direction.
Cameron Jerome opened the scoring in the sixth minute against fifth from bottom Cardiff and forward partner Marouane Chamakh made sure of the points in the 57th with his second strike in five days.
"It's going be a massive task for us (to avoid relegation) ... because this is such a relentless league," Pulis told reporters.
"We needed to get points this week. It was very important because we have some very tough away games coming up so we needed to be with the pack and that's where we are."
Pulis has a proud 21-year record of never having been relegated as a manager and Palace are now third from bottom, on the same total of 13 points as West Ham United but with an inferior goal difference to their London rivals.
West Ham were on the receiving end on Tuesday when Chamakh's goal secured a 1-0 home victory for Palace.
Pulis hailed the performances of strike pair Jerome and Chamakh.
"Those two have been brilliant and really given everybody in the team a lead in respect to the way they work," said the Welshman.
"I thought Chamakh was wonderful today. His linkup play with Cameron was very good and if Cameron does what he's good at then he's a threat to anybody."
Jerome, who also worked under Pulis at his previous club Stoke City, headed Palace in front following a clever turn and cross from Jason Puncheon.
Chamakh made it 2-0 when he controlled the ball with his chest before volleying it into the corner of the net.