Crystal Palace boss Sam Allardyce has set striker Christian Benteke a target in the next 10 games to help the Eagles avoid dropping out of the Premier League.

Speaking ahead of Saturday's trip to leaders Chelsea, Allardyce said: "If we are to stay up then we need to get Christian scoring again, and I hope he could bag five or six goals in the next 10 games to help the problem we're in."

The Belgium international has admitted he is finding it tough to score under his new manager.

"Individually it's difficult because I scoreless," Benteke told The Times on Thursday. "The Allardyce system is not designed to attack."

Despite Palace's improved defensive efforts, Allardyce has conceded that Palace will need to score more goals if they are to stave off relegation.

The former England boss added: "Benteke has had to make a sacrifice in that the goals have not been quite as fluent for him as they were before I arrived.

"Using the word 'sacrifice' is nice to hear because it shows that he's not selfish. He's disappointed that he's not scoring goals at the moment but I wouldn't say it's because of my over-defensive tactics.

"But it's more that we have to get better in the final third creating chances, not just for him but all the team. We get there but I don't think we're as creative or as clinical as we should be.

"It's very frustrating for him because he hasn't put the ball in the back of the net since Bournemouth.

He's had opportunities and they've come and gone, and hopefully they will arrive at the right time for us, which is in the next 10 games."