Pardew Previews Palace Clash

At St. James' Park on Saturday, Neil Warnock will take charge of the first game of his second spell in charge of Crystal Palace and, as Alan Pardew says, facing a team led by someone with so much experience won't be an easy task.

Palace have spent the majority of the last decade in the Championship and only retained their top-flight status last year after a monumental escape, led by Tony Pulis.

Pardew, a former Eagles player, says the solid infrastructure of his old club should see them become a regular fixture in the Premier League in the coming years.

"Neil Warnock's been manager of Palace before so he knows the club," explained the United boss.

"I think it's probably a good signing for them in terms of experience and we play them in the cup as well, so we will see Neil Warnock's reign at close hand in his first and maybe fourth or fifth game.

"I think Palace are looking to sort of grow as a Premier League club, and one year in is not growing - you need to get that second, third year as Hull have done this year.

"What you've got (at Crystal Palace) is good leadership there at the top of the club in the chairman and the board, what you've got is a good group of professionals, some I know very, very well and have worked with.

"I've got absolutely no worries about Crystal Palace, I think they'll be a Premier League side next season but at the moment, obviously, it's about pulling it all together, which Neil has got the experience to do."

With the new season now three games old, United supporters have yet to see their team score a goal of their own making, with John Egan's own goal at Gillingham going down as their only strike of the campaign thus far.

And Pardew knows his men will have to up the intensity in the final third as they bid to grab their first three points of 2014/15.

"I'm a manager that likes to see goals, and unfortunately this last sort of period of my management here, we haven't seen a lot of goals but not for the want of trying, particularly in the last three games," he said.

"We've really done well against the opposition we've been up against. I do feel that they'll come, and I want them to come as early as they can on Saturday and hopefully give our fans something to really scream about.

"We've got some good players, and you've only got to look at the quality on the training ground to know that I think on Saturday, it'll be a tough game for Crystal Palace."

Tickets for Saturday's home Barclays Premier League fixture against Crystal Palace are still on sale from just £5. For more information, click here.