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Southampton travel to Crystal Palace in the Premier League on Saturday
The game will be Palace's first under their new manager Roy Hodgson
Hodgson replaced Frank de Boer after the club's awful start to the season
The visitors are still looking for their first points of the campaign

Published: 11:17 EDT, 15 September 2017 | Updated: 11:29 EDT, 15 September 2017

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Southampton manager Mauricio Pellegrino admits he does not know what to expect from Crystal Palace under their new boss Roy Hodgson.

Struggling Palace took drastic action earlier this week in a bid to arrest their early-season slump, sacking Frank de Boer after just four Premier League games in charge and replacing him with the experienced former England boss.

Saints will be the first club to take on the bottom-of-the-table Eagles since the managerial change when they head to Selhurst Park for a lunchtime kick-off on Saturday.

Mauricio Pellegrino speaks to the media during a press conference on Friday morning

Southampton will be the first club to take on Crystal Palace since their managerial change

Argentinian Pellegrino acknowledges Palace have good individual players but is unsure of the threats they will pose as a team under 70-year-old Hodgson.

'When you change a manager everything is up in the air because nobody knows what will happen,' Pellegrino said.

'I know (Hodgson's) history as a manager. When I was at Liverpool (as a player in 2005) he was at Fulham and obviously he's a manager with a long history behind him. He has a lot of experience.

'But now I don't have too much reference. For the manager the context is everything for me, from my point of view. We need to wait a little more to draw a conclusion.

'The only thing that I know that it's a really good group of players.'

Pellegrino issues instructions during Friday's training session at St Mary's Stadium

Palace have yet to score a goal or register a point in the league so far this season, prompting the early dismissal of Dutchman De Boer.

While Saints are currently five points better off, they have also had problems finding their net, drawing blanks in four of their five games in all competitions.

The 3-2 victory over West Ham on August 19 is the only game in which Pellegrino has seen his new side score, with two of those strikes coming from the penalty spot.

He is confident, however, that his goal-shy team will soon start finding the back of the net on a regular basis.

'Obviously I will try to change something to be better,' Pellegrino added.

'I see the next game as an opportunity to improve and to convert more chances and create more. But it's about everybody, not just the strikers.'