Howe said, "They are competitive, as highlighted by their recent games. The game against Manchester United could have gone the other way.
"The beauty of this quick turnaround is that we have a chance to put on a much better performance. It will be a difficult game for us - we do not want to underestimate them. Chris (Wilder) is an outstanding manager, how he sets his team up. I have always admired him. It will be a difficult game, but we back ourselves if we play to our standards.
"We were disappointing (against Palace) - we acknowledge that and hold our hands up to it. We missed those resilient qualities that we need, and that has been too often the case away from home. We have to do better."
On going into the final five games of the campaign, he added: "We must learn and absorb all the lessons from Wednesday. Every game is so difficult. It is up to us to firstly go into the game with the right mentality and let our players express themselves in the right way.
"We have to finish the season strongly. These are important games for us - we are under no illusions on how important these fixtures are. We have some tough games to play but we are looking forward to the last five."