Crystal Palace boss Alan Pardew knows that his side have to address their home form if they are to arrest their alarming side down the Premier League table. Mattias Janmark Stars Jersey . The 2-1 win at Stoke on December 19 took them up to sixth but they are winless in 12 league matches since, leaving them in 15th place, eight points clear of Norwich City in 18th.But despite their recent travails, Pardew believes his side can give surprise league leaders Leicester a fright this weekend. Leicesters Jamie Vardy scores the only goal in the reverse fixture in October The results at home havent been what Ive wanted since I got here, says Pardew. Our philosophy is to go toe-to-toe.I want us to be more consistent and be an established Premier League team. For half of last term and half of this one we were, but we must improve.Ive got some great players here, I love managing them and I love it here. Im looking forward to these next nine games.Our history is littered with upsets against the odds, thats what this club is about. The stars have aligned and the planets have aligned for Leicester this season. Theyve had hardly any injuries, made hardly any mistakes in their campaign.Now the run is clear for them, they are the clear favourites, even Sir Alex Ferguson said theyre going to win it. For us, its envy a little bit for what theyve done and also admiration. Yohan Cabaye scores the first goal in the 2-0 FA Cup win at Reading Pardew is taking heart from the 2-0 win at Reading in the sixth round of the FA Cup and is urging his team to translate their Cup form to the league. They have won just four league matches at Selhurst Park this season. He said: Were in decent form but not as much in the league and we have a chance to turn that around in this next spell and theres a real determination this week on my part, the coaches part and among the players to do that.I noticed in the end period of the Reading game that we saw the game out comfortably. Weve not done that in the league and thats telling me there is a slight psychological issue with the team.Its understandable when everyone is reminding us of our position in the league and we have to get over that. We have to see a game out. Also See: Palace video Palace fixtures Palace stats Get a free ￡10 bet Mike Gartner Stars Jersey . -- The Los Angeles Angels have agreed to a minor league contract with reliever Brandon Lyon that includes an invitation to their big league camp for spring training. Jaromir Jagr Stars Jersey . -- Phil Mickelson came to the St. http://www.thedallasstarshockey.com/brett-hull-hockey-jersey/ . The native of Mont-Tremblant, Que., captured a World Cup downhill event Saturday, his second this year and fifth career victory on the circuit.OAKLAND, Calif. -- With the Texas rotation ravaged by injuries early in the season, Martin Perez has more than filled the void. Perez pitched his second consecutive shutout to extend his scoreless innings streak to 26 and the Texas Rangers wrapped up a three-game sweep of the Oakland Athletics with a 3-0 victory Wednesday. "Hes been the glue," manager Ron Washington said. "Hes held it together. Hes the one guy in that rotation whos been in it from last year who hasnt had a blip yet." The Rangers have been without Yu Darvish, Matt Harrison and Colby Lewis already at times this season but still find themselves in first place thanks to some strong play from fill-ins and major improvement from Perez. Perez (4-0) outpitched Sonny Gray (3-1) in a heralded matchup of emerging stars, allowing just three hits and two walks in his first start since throwing a three-hitter against the White Sox for his first career shutout. "I dont want to think too much about my ERA and the games that Ive thrown before," Perez said. "Im going to focus on my game today. We had a great game." Perez, who also threw eight scoreless innings against Houston on April 13, is the first Rangers pitcher to have three straight scoreless starts since Kenny Rogers had four straight over 30 innings in 2005. Perez also joined Charlie Hough in 1983 as the only Texas pitchers to have three straight starts of at least eight scoreless innings. "He knows how to pitch," Washington said. "He has weapons and he can throw them all for strikes and he has poise. He does a great job of staying with the game plan and thats something that hes learned from last year, how to study, how to go out there and just execute his pitches." Donnie Murphy homered and Michael Choice scored one run and drove in another for the Rangers, who moved a half-game ahead of Oakland in the AL West with their first sweep of the As since August 2011.. Jon Casey Stars Jersey. . The As never even threatened Perez on their way to getting swept at home for the first time since September 2012 against the Angels, ending a streak of 32 straight home series with at least one win. "Youre going to have your little lumps in the road," As third baseman Josh Donaldson said. "Everybody knows that here. We just have to come back." Oakland got leadoff singles from Jed Lowrie in the fourth and Derek Norris in the fifth for its first two hits off Perez. But Perez followed each of those hits by getting the next batter to hit into a double play, giving him a major league-leading 11 groundball double plays. Donaldson doubled with one out in the seventh, but was stranded there when Alberto Callaspo grounded out with runners on first and second to end the inning. "He keeps the ball off the barrel of the bat," As manager Bob Melvin said. "Hes pitched really well this year. The reason he can get deep in games is hes not striking a lot of guys out, hes just keeping it off the barrel of the bat." Gray allowed three runs and five hits in seven innings to end a six-game winning streak in the regular season dating to last September. He fell behind when Choice led the game off with a walk and scored on Alex Rios triple. The Rangers were poised for a possible big inning when Rios was originally ruled safe at home on a grounder Lowrie at shortstop. But Melvin challenged the call and Rios was ruled out on instant replay. Choice, traded from Oakland to Texas in the off-season, added an RBI single in the fifth and Murphy hit his first homer of the season in the sixth to make it 3-0. NOTES: Rangers 3B Kevin Kouzmanoff was held out with a sore back. ... Scott Kazmir (2-0) will take the mound against Brett Oberholtzer (0-3) on Thursday when Oakland opens a four-game series in Houston. ... Texas is off Thursday before beginning a three-game series in Seattle on Friday. ' ' '