Thursday 14 January 2021 01:07, UK
Crystal Palace manager Roy Hodgson admits he is "wary" of Manchester United under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and insists beating them would be a "massive feather in the cap".
Palace welcome United to Selhurst Park on Wednesday evening looking to extend their unbeaten run to seven games in all competitions, following their impressive 4-1 win over Leicester at the weekend.
However, they face a side yet to lose under Solskjaer in the league since his appointment in December and Hodgson, although excited about the match, knows the difficulty of the task at hand.
"I'm looking forward to it but I'm vary wary of the fact that this is Manchester United," he said.
"This is a team that in their last 11 league games they've only managed to draw twice and win the other nine, so it's going to be a very, very tough ask for us but at least we go into the game after a good victory ourselves."
The previous meeting between the sides earlier in the season finished goalless, a result which meant Palace have not beaten United in their last 12 attempts.
Hodgson believes Solskjaer has had a significant impact at Old Trafford and although he would not be drawn on making comparisons with former boss Jose Mourinho, he admitted beating them would be a historic moment for the club.
"There's no doubt that he (Solskjaer) has had an effect upon the team," the Palace boss added.
"I've been very impressed with the way that he's conducted himself. Manchester United are Manchester United and we are talking about one of the greatest football clubs not just in England but in the whole world.
"Maybe the players have woken up a little bit and started to smell the coffee and realised that they're Manchester United and the way things were going hadn't been quite good enough.
"If we are going to get a result in the game on Wednesday night it will be a massive feather in the cap of Crystal Palace football club because I can't remember too many of our victories against them."
