CRYSTAL Palace boss Tony Pulis sang Marouane Chamakh's praises as the Eagles narrowly missed out on a point at Stamford Bridge yesterday.

Chamakh scored Palace's equaliser in the 2-1 defeat, his third goal in three Premier League matches.

The Moroccan has been the subject to much scorn among English football fans after a troubled spell at Arsenal, but he seems to have found his feet at the south London club.

Speaking after the game, Pulis said: "I think he's just bought into what we're trying to do.

"The most important thing I've always tried to do is galvanise a spirit within a football club, players getting on well together, players wanting to be together and players wanting work together, and Marouane has bought into that.

"And you've seen the quality today. Wenger doesn't buy players who can't play and it's helped that we've given him the responsibility of playing just off the striker where he's got more room and space."

The game at Stamford Bridge was Pulis' fourth in charge of Crystal Palace, and he admitted keeping the side up is going to a challenge in such a competitive league.

He said: "It's tough because you go into a football club and you're playing catch up and in the Premiership it's such a relentless league.

"You have runs of games where you're playing against teams like Chelsea, where it's very, very difficult to get points."

However the former Stoke manager, who continued to wax lyrical about Chamakh's contribution, commended his team's spirit and appealed to his players to continue to show the belief they have shown in recent games.

He said: "The spirit from the players in the last five or six games has been absolutely fantastic.

"I thought today we were a little bit back foot first half but second half we pushed up little bit and to be in the game for 94 minutes is testament to the commitment and the effort and I thought when we got it to Chamakh we played some good stuff.

"Chamakh slows it down for us, gets a pass on, gives us time to get up the pitch.

"Bolasie came on and he was a threat on one side, Puncheon was a threat from the other side and Cameron Jerome was smashing as well. But you know there's a threat there.

"The important thing is that the lads keep believing that we have got a chance and that we keep playing with that spirit."