Alan Irvine believes a 'cauldron of noise' at Sheffield Wednesday's decisive final day fixture against Crystal Palace can make a key difference in securing Championship status this weekend.

Hillsborough is sold out for the blockbuster between the Owls and the Eagles and the Wednesday chief knows the players can be lifted by a packed and vocal home crowd.

Irvine was impressed by Palace fans on Monday night as they drew with West Brom but he insists that Wednesayites can turn the volume up even higher.

"I sat down at Selhurst Park on Monday night and the Crystal Palace fans made a fantastic atmosphere. Hopefully our fans will generate an even better atmosphere than that," he told Wednesday Player. "There will be more of them and the place will be packed out so we need them to make a cauldron of noise at Hillsborough - if they can do that for the whole 90 minutes then they will be a huge help to us.

"Our fans have been fantastic. Down at Cardiff they made an awful lot of noise, they had to withstand a real rollercoaster of emotions but they were behind us all the way. We are going to need them to do that on Sunday and I don't feel they will let us down in any way at all. They have been fantastic in all of the time I have been here and if they can do that again on Sunday then it gives us a better chance.

"It's the biggest game of the season without any question. It's an enormous occasion and everybody needs to play their part; the players, the staff, the supporters - it's vitally important that everybody does that," Irvine said.

The Owls boss meanwhile is focussed on his preparations for the big game on Sunday (1pm kick-off) and stresses that the Eagles will not be easy opponents to tackle.

"Palace would not be in this position if they hadn't gone into administration," Irvine said. "They must have felt that they could afford to be in the position of being docked ten points and that they would be ok without them because at the time they went into administration they were not too far off the play-offs. But the impact it has had on them has clearly been a major factor. Psychologically it has given them a problem, which is not surprising because all of these things going on will play on the players' minds. On top of that losing Neil Warnock will also have had an effect; Paul Hart is a good manager but he has inherited a difficult situation.

Irvine added: "They're good enough to be in this division and they've shown that with the number of wins they've had this season. They nearly won the game against West Brom and they will come to Hillsborough knowing that they have a chance of winning the game and getting the result they need to stay in the league."