It won't be the first time the Selhurst Park crowd have welcomed a new manager ahead of a game against Burnley. They did exactly that in December 2001 when Trevor Francis had replaced Steve Bruce and on that occasion we won 2-1 with both goals coming from Ian Moore.
It won't be the first time we've come up against Warnock and Palace although the first encounter is probably best forgotten. On that occasion, on the last day of the 2007/08 season we had Clarke Carlisle sent off after just seven minutes and fell to a 5-0 hammering.
That was in the Championship, and it is over 43 years since we last played them in the top flight. Tomorrow will be only our third ever top flight visit to Selhurst Park and the record, so far, is not one to dismiss.
In the 1969/70 season, Palace's first ever in the old First Division, we won the away game 2-1 with a Loughlan own goal and an 89th minute winner from Steve Kindon. In the following season we won 2-0 with Ralph Coates and Martin Dobson the scorers.
We won the home games too in both those seasons which currently leaves us with a played four, won four record in top flight games against Palace.
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| David Jones says there are a lot of positives |
But tomorrow is about tomorrow, and who would have thought a year ago that this was going to be a Premier League clash in 2014/15 season. By then Palace were looking every bit the relegation favourites that they'd been billed as and, despite our good start of three wins and a draw in the first five games, I don't think many saw us as promotion candidates.
Tony Pulis, recently departed, came in and turned Palace's season round after Ian Holloway decided to leave, and we all know about Sean Dyche's relentless promotion team that took Burnley to 93 points.
In town this morning, buying some teacakes and meat for tomorrow's trip, a Burnley fan said we were certain to go down because we'd only picked up one point from the first three games whereas last time we already had six points courtesy of home wins against Manchester United and Everton.
He didn't seem interested in the fact that both of those clubs failed to scored from the penalty spot, Brian Jensen saving Michael Carrick's effort at the Jimmy Mac end and Louis Saha missing the target at the cricket field end, just that we were already five points behind.
I shouldn't be amazed any longer at how some people decide on our fate, but the one fact is that we are still looking for our first win of the season. Hardly a surprise given the quality of the opposition we've faced so far.
All of the games will be tough, there is no doubt about that, but enthused by the point won against United last time it will certainly have given us some confidence ahead of the trip.
David Jones, my choice as man of the match in that last game, said as much when speaking to Dan Black of the Burnley Express earlier this week. He said: "That point will build confidence for the next game. It gets us up and running and breeds confidence and belief, especially against such a big club after a difficult start.
"We're still learning but there's a lot of positives. We're new in this league and that point on the board gives everyone a lift. We don't want a pat on the back for good performances, we want to pick up the points to stay in this league. It's a step in the right direction."
Jones, who I am told was making a mean latte earlier this week in Costa Coffee whilst his mate Tom Heaton struggled with the till, is a certain starter tomorrow and, like Heaton, will be making his 50th league appearance, both of them not having missed a league game since signing for the club in the summer of 2013.
There's been plenty of discussion on the potential team since the arrival of George Boyd, Nathaniel Chalobah and Michael Keane. Would all three start, or would any of them start?
Sean Dyche gave some clues yesterday, suggesting that both Chalobah and Keane could still this one out as they got used to life at Turf Moor, but that Boyd was under consideration for a start.
Should he start then it would mean a first Premier League team change of the season with Matt Taylor probably the most likely player to drop out. I think it is more likely that Dyche will give the same eleven another game with Boyd probably on the bench.
Burnley could line up: Tom Heaton, Kieran Trippier, Michael Duff, Jason Shackell, Ben Mee, Scott Arfield, Dean Marney, David Jones, Matt Taylor, Danny Ings, Lukas Jutkiewicz. Subs from: Matt Gilks, Steven Reid, Kevin Long, Stephen Ward, Ross Wallace, Michael Kightly, George Boyd, Ashley Barnes, Marvin Sordell.
Crystal Palace go into the game, like Burnley, with one point from their opening three games. Pulis left just before the start of the season with Keith Millen taking charge as they lost their opening two games at Arsenal, when the home side came from behind to win it 2-1 with a stoppage time winner from Aaron Ramsey, and at home against West Ham.
Warnock came in and his second spell in charge got off to a sensational start when Dwight Gayle gave them a first minute lead. After a Newcastle equaliser they went ahead again through Jason Puncheon then fell behind 3-2 before Wilfried Zaha, also enjoying a return to Palace, won them a point with a third in the fifth minute of stoppage time.
Zaha, who has not enjoyed the best of times at Old Trafford, has signed on loan for the rest of the season and since he's been joined by deadline day signings Zeki Fryers and Burnley target James McArthur, who cost a combined £12 million from Tottenham and Wigan, and the loan of Kevin Doyle from Wolves, and later free agent Andrew Johnson, another making a return to Selhurst Park.
That they are still in the league owes much to that incredible recovery last season. When Pulis replaced Holloway they had seven points from 12 games and were off the bottom only on goal difference from Sunderland.
The remaining 26 games brought them 38 points and an 11th place finish, a comfortable 12 points clear of the bottom three. It was the first time Palace had played a Premier League season without suffering relegation.
Throughout the summer there appeared to be some problems. Pulis didn't seem happy with the player recruitment and that led to his departure on the eve of the season with Millen taking charge temporarily.
Their attempts to bring in a new manager were hit with textgate which not only ended their hopes of bringing in Malky Mackay but also saw the end of their sporting director Iain Moody.
Others, notably Tim Sherwood and Glenn Hoddle, quickly distanced themselves from the job and eventually up popped Warnock, who jokingly announced he was sixth choice, to begin a second term.
Once again they are relegation favourites, although not quite as short odds as we are. The bookies will think they have it spot on just now as we go into the game occupying those bottom two places.
It's hard to know what Warnock's team will be but he'll select from the squad involved at Newcastle, except the injured Marouane Chamakh and Glenn Murray who has moved out on loan to Reading, plus the new players who have arrived since and fit again Joe Ledley.
The team at St. James' Park was: Julian Speroni, Adrian Marriapa, Scott Dann, Damien Delaney, Martin Kelly, Jason Puncheon, Mile Jedinak, Joel Ward, Yannick Bolasie, Marouane Chamakh, Dwight Gayle. Subs: Wayne Hennessey, Brede Hangeland, Barry Bannan, Jonny Williams, Glenn Murray, Fraizer Campbell, Wilfried Zaha.
Last Time We Were There
Our last visit to Selhurst Park came at the beginning of October almost two years ago and was the last fixture before the second international break of the season. It was played as speculation started to increase that manager Eddie Howe might be on his way back to Bournemouth and it was, indeed, his last game in charge.
We went into the game in 15th place in the table, nine places and five points behind Palace, but this was a Burnley team haemorrhaging goals. Already a staggering 18 goals had gone into our net in the first nine games.
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| Junior Stanislas was our best player on a bad day |
Palace proved to be yet another defensive horror show and this despite, against the run of play, taking a two goal lead. I said in my report at the time that defensively we looked an amateur outfit.
Howe made three changes. Fit again Jason Shackell was back for deputy Michael Duff to resume his partnership with David Edgar at the back. Chris McCann replaced Ross Wallace and Marvin Bartley was in for Brian Stock who had been woeful in the 3-3 draw against Sheffield Wednesday on the previous Tuesday.
We played a 4-1-4-1 formation with Dean Marney as the holding midfielder and Martin Paterson as an orthodox right winger. The opening exchanges saw Palace start the brighter. We were offering precious little but we were restricting Palace to shots from distance.
Then the game was turned on its head. A routine ball in by Kieran Trippier wasn't dealt with by Darcy Blake. His poor header dropped to Junior Stanislas, our best player. Julian Speroni tipped his shot onto the post with Chris McCann hitting home the rebound.
We hadn't got over the shock when 1-0 became 2-0 three minutes later. Bartley got to the line to the right of goal. He played the ball back for Paterson who nonchalantly hooked the ball over his shoulder and into the far corner.
We were second best but two goals to the good. A couple of weeks ago Danny Murphy spoke of our narrow back four on the Turf. Here they were so far apart it was frightening and Palace just basically picked us off.
Wilfried Zaha got onto a ball played in between the wide open spaces between Trippier and Edgar to pull one back before half time and in the second half it just got worse and worse as they scored another three in a 22 minute spell.
Charlie Austin was in sparkling form at the time and he got his customary goal to reduce the arrears to one goal but Howe's time as Burnley manager was to end with a 4-3 defeat and 22 goals conceded in the first ten games of the season.
"Quite simply it was just not good enough", said captain Shackell with Howe adding: "To concede four goals away from home is nowhere near good enough and the number we are shipping in a the moment is a real concern."
He added: "Things have to change so we will go away and think about it," having admitted we'd changed the system to be tighter.
The teams that day at Palace were;
Crystal Palace: Julian Speroni, Peter Ramage, Darcy Blake, Damien Delaney, Dean Moxey, Kagisho Dikgacoi, Mile Jedinak, Andre Moritz (Owen Garvan 83), Wilfried Zaha, Glenn Murray, Yannick Bolasie (Jon Williams 64). Subs not used: Lewis Price, Joel Ward, Jonathan Parr, David Goodwillie, Aaron Wilbraham.
Burnley: Lee Grant, Kieran Trippier, David Edgar, Jason Shackell, Ben Mee, Dean Marney, Martin Paterson (Sam Vokes 71), Marvin Bartley, Chris McCann (Cameron Stewart 71), Junior Stanislas (Ross Wallace 84), Charlie Austin. Subs not used: Brian Jensen, Kevin Long, Joseph Mills, Brian Stock.
Previous Games against Crystal Palace
| Last 20 Years | |||||
| Season | Comp | Ven | Res | Att | Scorers |
| 2000/01 | Division 1 | a | 1-0 | 18,531 | Branch |
| Worth'tn Cup | h | 2-2 | 5,889 | Cooke, Payton(pen) | |
| Worth'tn Cup | a | 1-1 | 5,720 | Cooke - lost on away goals | |
| Division 1 | h | 1-2 | 14,973 | Cook | |
| 2001/02 | Division 1 | h | 1-0 | 14,713 | Cook |
| a | 2-1 | 18,457 | I Moore(2) | ||
| 2002/03 | Division 1 | h | 0-0 | 12,407 | |
| h | 1-1 | 16,344 | Taylor | ||
| 2003/04 | Division 1 | h | 2-3 | 12,976 | Blake, Roche |
| a | 0-0 | 15,276 | |||
| 2005/06 | Championship | a | 0-2 | 20,127 | |
| h | 0-0 | 11,449 | |||
| 2006/07 | Championship | a | 2-2 | 16,396 | Mahon, Lafferty |
| h | 1-1 | 10,659 | Akinbiyi | ||
| 2007/08 | Championship | h | 1-1 | 10,711 | Blake |
| a | 0-5 | 23,950 | |||
| 2008/09 | Championship | a | 0-0 | 14,071 | |
| h | 4-2 | 10,312 | Carlisle, Alexander(pen), Thompson, Rodriguez | ||
| 2010/11 | Championship | a | 0-0 | 14,451 | |
| h | 1-0 | 14,848 | Rodriguez | ||
| 2011/12 | Championship | a | 0-2 | 13,167 | |
| h | 1-1 | 13,216 | Rodriguez(pen) | ||
| 2012/13 | Championship | a | 3-4 | 20,863 | McCann, Paterson, Austin |
| h | 1-0 | 11,564 | Stanislas | ||
Click HERE to see all previous results against Crystal Palace