• Both players are out of contract in the summer and may leave • Roy Hodgson unable to negotiate while relegation a threat

Crystal Palace are to hold talks with Yohan Cabaye and Joel Ward next week to clarify their plans for the future, with Roy Hodgson expecting to lose the experienced pair under freedom of contract this summer.

Palace go into Saturday’s game at Stoke six points clear of the relegation places and, while not mathematically safe, with thoughts turning to next season. Talks with five players whose deals expire on 1 July have been on hold while Hodgson’s side sought to stave off the threat of relegation but the sporting director, Dougie Freedman, will meet those concerned next week to discuss the future.

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As it stands, Cabaye and Ward – a member of the side promoted from the second tier in 2013 and a veteran of 205 appearances for the club – will depart. Cabaye has proved a key performer under Hodgson, and has excelled over recent weeks, but would need to accept a considerable cut to his £100,000-a-week salary to extend his stay into a fourth campaign. Marseille have been credited with an interest in the former Paris Saint-Germain midfielder.

“We need to get our preparation and recruitment right because we are going to be losing some very good players at the end of this season,” Hodgson said. “There are several out of contract. You can’t talk with people like Yohan Cabaye, Joel Ward, Julián Speroni, Damien Delaney or Chung-yong Lee until you know where you’re going to be and what you’ve got to offer. So this is going to be hard work in the coming days for myself and Doug Freedman.

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“There’s no doubt we are losing players, not least [the loanees] Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Tim Fosu-Mensah, quite apart from anyone who might leave the club for other reasons. We’ll have to canvas those players and find out their plans.”

Hodgson would expect to recruit replacements to ensure his 25-man senior squad is filled. The Spanish goalkeeper Vicente Guaita is joining from Getafe, and Palace have looked at Fulham’s right-back Ryan Fredericks and could revive interest in the Anderlecht midfielder Leander Dendoncker. The manager said he was “fairly confident” Christian Benteke would be retained, despite a disappointing season, and stressed he saw his own future at the club next term. The 70-year-old is contracted to 2019.