Alan Pardew feels his Crystal Palace side requires more quality in the attacking third.

The Eagles failed to score for a third straight game in Sunday's 3-0 home defeat to Chelsea which suggests to the boss that he is lacking creative players who constantly place pressure on the opposing defence.

"There is no doubt that we are lacking quality at the top of the pitch at the moment and that was evident," Pardew, who was without Yannick Bolasie, Yohan Cabaye and Connor Wickham, told Sky Sports.

"We got in some good situations and couldn't capitalise - that's a third game in row now without a goal, so we are hoping a few of our top players come back in that area.

"When you've got a very good team and the confidence wasn't what it was you've got more of a chance but when they take the lead their confidence goes up.

"I feel like we got Chelsea at a bad time but they got us at a good time so it was a combination of the two."

The loss was Palace's first in seven matches which saw them drop to seventh on the Premier League table.