Preview: Southampton vs. Crystal Palace

Crystal Palace will be hoping to continue their unbeaten start to life under Alan Pardew when they travel to Southampton in the FA Cup this weekend.

The former Newcastle United boss's first match in charge of the Eagles was in the third round, where they thrashed non-league Dover Athletic.

The team's confidence should have soared since then, with a Premier League win over Tottenham Hotspur followed up by a come-from-behind 3-2 win over Burnley at the weekend, moving them up to third in the table.

Pardew, who will be facing a club that he used to manage this weekend, has confirmed that he has a fully-fit squad for this match, although captain Mile Jedinak and midfielder Yannick Bolasie are both away on international duty in the Asia Cup and Africa Cup of Nations respectively.

Meanwhile, Southampton only made sure of their place in round four last week as they needed a replay to get past Championship side Ipswich Town.

Ronald Koeman's side have been in impressive form recently though, with no defeats in their last eight outings, which includes six wins.

They only faced Palace a few weeks ago, with their 3-1 win over this weekend's opponents proving to be the end of Neil Warnock's reign at Selhurst Park.

The Saints will be without Toby Alderweireld, Victor Wanyama and Morgan Schneiderlin, as all three are expected to be sidelined for the next two weeks after picking up knocks in the last two games.

Southampton reached the final of this competition 12 years ago, but since then they have been past round five just once.

Southampton:

Form in FA Cup: LWWLDW Form in all competitions: DWDWWW

Possible starting lineup: Forster, Gardos, Fonte, Bertrand, Clyne, Ward-Prose, Davis, Reed, Elia, Long, Tadic

Crystal Palace:

Form in FA Cup: LWLWLW Form in all competitions: LDDWWW

Possible starting lineup: Speroni, Ward, Dann, Delaney, Kelly, Ledley, O'Keefe, Bannan, Zaha, Murray, Gayle

Sports Mole says: 2-1