Mauricio Pochettino: 'Crystal Palace will be tough game'

Southampton manager Mauricio Pochettino has insisted that his side will not have it easy on Saturday for their away trip to Crystal Palace in the Premier League.

Pochettino said that Palace manager Tony Pulis has ensured his team are tough to beat, and that it would be a very different game from when they met earlier in the season with Ian Holloway in charge of the Eagles.

"Palace will be a very tough opponent," the club's official Twitter feed quotes Pochettino as saying. "They have a clear style of playing under Tony Pulis.

"I have great respect for Tony Pulis. He's done very well and I have great admiration for the job he's done there. They have a different manager to when we last played them, so they'll be playing with a different style tomorrow."

Southampton are currently ninth in the Premier League, while Palace are 16th.