Palace midfielder James McArthur described goalkeeper Julian Speroni’s exploits between the sticks this season as similar to the flavour of a vintage claret – improving with age.

The 35-year-old, who is in his testimonial season at Palace, had to be at his best to thwart Stoke City at the weekend as the Eagles triumphed 2-1 at the Britannia stadium.

City did everything but score in the second half and more often than not were denied by Speroni as he saved two Charlie Adam set-pieces and stopped close range efforts from Stephen Ireland and Mame Diouf.

“Julian Speroni is just getting better and better. I think he has had a great season,” said Scotland international.

“The fans have got on his back a little bit but he has made only one mistake against Southampton.

“The way he has bounced back from that has been outstanding and he has been one of our best players.”

Saturday’s win took Palace to the magical 36 point mark, which should mean the Eagles are certain of Premier League football next term.

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But McArthur, who will spend the international break with Scotland for games with Northern Ireland and Gibraltar, insisted they were not done there.

“We’ve got above Newcastle now, which is a great achievement for a club like Palace to get above a club like Newcastle,” he added.

“We’ve just got to keep getting wins now. It is not a case of looking at it and saying we are where we are and we are happy with that.

“We want to get as high as we can and we just have to keep making sure we stick together as a team and put the points on the board.”