Palace frustrated to be without quartet for Pulis return

LONDON (Reuters) - Crystal Palace will renew acquaintances with former manager Tony Pulis on Saturday still shorn of four players for the home game with West Bromwich Albion.

Palace are seventh in the table but have lost two of their last three Premier League games, coinciding with the absence through injury of striker Connor Wickham, midfielder Mile Jedinak and defenders Damien Delaney and Joel Ward.

"I'm a bit frustrated at the moment to have so many key players missing," manager Alan Pardew told a news conference on Thursday. "They are first-team players so that's an area we need to put right."

Pardew said his medical team expected all four to be available again for Palace's next match, against West Ham United on Oct. 17.

Pulis' West Brom side are down in 15th place but the Palace manager is taking nothing for granted.

"It will be a difficult test for us," said Pardew. "Tony, coming back here, knows a good proportion of the squad.

"He knows me well. He knows I will attack him and therefore he will have a game plan to stop us."

After successive 1-0 defeats by Manchester City and Tottenham Hotspur, Palace won by the same score last weekend at promoted Watford.

"I don't think we got a lot of credit for that victory," said Pardew. "No one's scored there, no one's won. We did both so I was really pleased with that victory, it was a great step forward."

Pardew will have the same squad available on Saturday which means another start up front for Dwight Gayle who has four League Cup goals this season but none in the Premier League.

The Palace manager was impressed by Gayle's performance against Watford. "If he had scored two goals he would have been man of the match," said Pardew.

(Reporting by Neville Dalton; Editing by Tony Jimenez)