Crystal Palace's Christian Benteke motivated by Belgium snub to help Eagles stay up

Christian Benteke has two reasons to find form in the final seven games of the season - with Premier League survival and a place in Belgium's World Cup squad on the line.

Benteke was dropped from Roberto Martinez's 27-man squad for Belgium's friendly with Saudi Arabia on Tuesday, having scored only twice for Crystal Palace this season - to date, the worst return of his domestic career.

Palace take on Liverpool on Saturday, live on Sky Sports Premier League from 11.30am, having jumped out of the bottom three following their 2-0 win at Huddersfield before the international break.

Perhaps the two-week break enforced on the 27-year-old, who says he deserved to be overlooked, is no bad thing; but he is determined to use it as extra motivation for the rest of the season and keep Palace above the surface.

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"It's the first time I've not been selected in the squad since I first joined, so it was difficult," he said. "I spoke with the manager, who called me straight away after, and talked to me about it. I think it's fair, what he said, but it's between him and me.

"Of course, it gives me more motivation. Only more goals will help me to get back to where I want to be. Roy [Hodgson] gives us a lot of confidence in our play, we are more compact and more solid in our shape too."

Benteke feels his meagre tally is not a fair reflection of his performances for the Eagles this season, and he is in no denial about how his return is perceived outside of Selhurst Park.

But equally, for a striker who has missed out on a double-figure scoring record only once since he arrived in English football in 2012, he is acutely aware of what needs to change in his game.

He said: "I feel that I'm more involved in the games than last season. Then, of course I scored more goals, but I wasn't involved in the play as much.

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"It's a shame I can't find the net. I can feel I'm working more for the team, but people will look at whether I'm scoring or not. With a few more goals, my stats would be much better than now - but I just need to score.

"The Palace fans have been really good with me, even in my tough times, so I want them to just support us and I will do everything I can, and the team will to, to stay up."

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