Crystal Palace coach Alan Pardew has urged his side to improve at the back after admitting that errors are costing them in the Premier League.

The Eagles, 7.00 to be relegated, currently sit 16th in the league table after another defeat on Saturday to Manchester City.

City opened the scoring in the first-half when forgotten midfielder Yaya Toure made a successful return to the first-team and found the top corner with a deflected effort.

Pardew decided to throw on former Sunderland star Connor Wickham and the substitute made an immediate impact as he scored an equaliser.

Palace looked like they were going to hold on at one point but Toure scored again to ensure City moved level on points with Liverpool at the top of the table.

Palace remain just one point above the drop zone after five successive defeats and Pardew concedes they must stop making mistakes.

“We gifted them two goals and you can’t do that with this team,” he told Sky Sports.

“Take those two incidents away and we’ve competed really well. We looked a lot stronger defensively and the group had a good psychology about it.

We went out and we created chances and could have had something out of the game, perhaps we should of.

“The little errors are costing us and both goals we should have stopped.”

Pardew will be hoping his side can learn from their lessons when they take on Swansea next Saturday, before difficult games against Southampton, Hull City, Manchester United and Chelsea in the coming weeks.