Fulham manager Chris Coleman warns that sentiment and friendship will not get in the way of trying to secure three Barclays Premiership points when he returns to Selhurst Park and meets up with old team-mate Iain Dowie on Monday night.

Coleman and Dowie, whose newly-promoted Crystal Palace team are still chasing their first league victory of the season, played together for only about a year.

But that time - and subsequent battles as opponents - showed the Fulham boss just how tough an adversary he will be facing when their sides clash in a match which will also pit the Cottagers against their former defender Kit Symons.

Coleman said: "I have some good, happy memories from my time at Palace. They are a very good club. They looked after me very well, and I had a good rapport with everybody there.

"I'll see some old faces and I'm big friends with Iain and Kit, who have done a magnificent job there. But obviously this will be business, and we will be trying to get the points - so there will be no sentiment. We'll be going there to do a job.

"Afterwards, we'll shake hands and probably grab a beer together - but for 90 minutes we'll be very serious, that's the way it is."

Coleman, who became an instant Premiership manager after Fulham parted company with Jean Tigana, is full of admiration for the way Dowie has fought his way into the top flight.

In under a year at Selhurst Park he has transformed Palace from strugglers to promotion winners, and the Fulham boss said: "He has done fantastically well.

"Iain is different to me. I was lucky enough to get my first job with a Premiership club, so the problems for me were different to what Iain faced.

"In his first job at Oldham he did very, very well. He got into the play-offs in his first year. But in his second year they got into financial difficulties, and he coped with that very well.

"Palace came in for him, and I knew he would do well because I know what calibre he is. At the time Crystal Palace needed shaking up and it needed somebody to go in with a lot of enthusiasm. Iain's certainly got that, and he's done a great job.

"When he got there they were absolutely nowhere. He was staring a relegation battle in the face and he turned it round so quickly. They came up in the play-offs and deserved it - but they are pretty much the same team they had in the First Division," said Coleman, who warned that Dowie will have to work a lot more magic to keep his side up.

"It's hard to bridge that gap between the First Division and the Premiership if you don't spend £25 or £30million, it's as simple as that. Norwich and West Bromwich will also find it hard.

"When we came up we spent money, a lot of money, and finished 13th. But it's an unforgiving league, the Premiership - and if you don't spend you're going to find it difficult.

"Between the First Division and the Premiership is a big gap - and it's getting bigger. The Premiership is just so high a standard, with a lot of world-class players playing in the best league in the world.

"If you come up without any money to spend it is going to be hard, but Palace have the best man in charge in Iain Dowie.

"If you can't spend money you have to make sure your players are fit and are up for a fight every week - and you have to battle through it.

"Palace was a great club, and I loved it there but I still want to beat them - and I don't feel sorry for them either," he added.

Crystal Palace manager Iain Dowie

Monday's clash at Selhurst Park pits Dowie against former Eagles team-mate and close friend Chris Coleman with Palace desperate for three points.

The Eagles are still rooted to the foot of the table despite last weekend's 1-1 draw at Aston Villa and need to start winning games against other sides tipped to struggle.

But Dowie insists confidence is still high in the dressing-room, and claims that his good will towards Coleman will count for nothing come kick-off.

He said: "We have always been good friends from the first day I walked in at Palace when we both played here.

"I turned up on the training ground on my first day and he said to me: 'We've been waiting for you for a while.'

"It went very well for us and he was a good leader in the dressing room and he's taken that on to his management career. Players seem to want to play for him.

"But we have to focus on our own game because it's been a while since we won and we need to get the ball rolling."

When Coleman was appointed Fulham manager after the departure of Jean Tigana, he sought out Dowie's advice, and the latter did likewise when he was offered the Palace job.

Dowie insists the Welshman has been a great success at Craven Cottage, combining Tigana's elegant passing philosophy with the bite he always showed himself as a player.

He said: "People said Chris would struggle but he is nobody's fool and he knows the game well. You don't see too many disruptive stories coming out of Fulham.

"They have some good players and Chris said when he got the job that he was very fortunate to inherit the squad that he got.

"He has taken that on by impressing his personality on the side with a bit more steel and hunger to go with the passing game.

"I speak to Chris quite often and he rings me after games to ask me about his sartorial elegance.

"I always try to give him advice on that. It doesn't seem to be working very well for him judging by what I see on TV!"

Dowie could be forgiven for looking at Fulham's comfortable if modest start to the season with envy after a run of five straight league defeats left Palace facing an early battle for survival.

But the former Eagles striker saw signs of improvement during the draw at Villa Park, and has warned Coleman not to expect an easy ride in SE25.

He said: "We had a good chat before the game and afterwards in training and the players have been bright and bubbly.

"Confidence is a very important thing and we got that by having 18 attempts on target compared to Villa's 10.

"We had a very positive video analysis session and all the things we have been driving home from day one came together in that game. No-one can accuse us of not having some fight."