Pardew wary of Pulis Palace wisdom



Pulis was voted Premier League manger of the year last season after steering Palace from relegation candidates to an 11th-placed finish but he left on the eve of the current campaign and has since taken over at the Hawthorns.

The 57-year-old will return to Palace for the first time this weekend having seen his side slip to three successive defeats but Pardew, who has guided the south London club to eight wins from his 12 league games in charge, feels that Pulis' insider knowledge leaves the Welshman holding all the aces.

"It is a huge advantage he has in terms of playing an opposition," he said.

"He knows us

It is more or less all of the players he had here who will be starting, with the exception of Wilfried (Zaha) and James McArthur, everyone else was here

"He has a tremendous ability to strangle a team, he knows how to knock the stuffing out of a team and no-one could be worse to play than us and the position we are in.

"We respect them and we respect what he will do and we will try and get the win with all that in mind."

If Pardew, who collected the manager of the year accolade for his work with Newcastle in 2011-12, can continue to oversee such a strong run of form it is likely Palace will eclipse last season's achievements and could see them finish in the top half of the table.

Recent wins over reigning champions Manchester City and a 4-1 thrashing of Sunderland have brought Pardew's Palace into the spotlight - but he does not want to be compared to Pulis and is more interested in another strong showing from his side.

"I think it is a little bit unfair," he said when asked if he was doing a better job than Pulis had done.

"The scenarios are always different to match up and say 'this is better, that is better'

What he did was separate to what I'm doing, it was a fantastic achievement and he won manager of the year and quite rightly so.

"For me it is different, I'm just trying to get the best out of the team, I'm not looking for a competition with Tony and I'm sure neither is he - we are professional Premier League managers, we have proven that and we can do the job if we have the players and I'm fortunate to have some good players."

Pardew will have the same squad at his disposal as that which thrashed Sunderland last weekend.

That means the Eagles will still be without strikers Marouane Chamakh and Fraizer Campbell - who both remain sidelined with hamstring problems.

Lee Chung-yong (foot) is a long-term absentee and Jordon Mutch (thigh) is out, but Pape Souare should be fit despite being forced off during the 4-1 win at the Stadium of Light.

Tony Pulis refused to lift the lid on his Crystal Palace exit but insisted he will never do a better job elsewhere.

"I had a great 10 months there and it's none of your business," he said when asked why he left

"If you want to talk about negative things I'm not here to do that.

"Whatever happens between me and another individual, happens between me and him

I'm not going to talk behind people's backs.

"I think Stoke will always sit with me as the main job because of the time I spent there but as a short-term position I don't think I'd ever better what went on at Palace.

"I don't want to talk about what went on and what didn't go on, what matters was them staying in the Premier League

It's a good club and has unbelievable potential

To finish 11th was absolutely fabulous and something everyone at the club could be proud of.

"We spent just under £3million and brought in Scott Dann, Joe Ledley and Tom Ince and they were important signings."

Pulis could be without Brown Ideye, who is struggling with a knee injury - but Callum McManaman is fully fit following a foot problem after being an unused substitute in the 3-2 loss to Leicester last week.

Source : PA

Source: PA