Bournemouth and Palace are among the form teams in the Premier League, with Iraola’s side six games unbeaten and the Eagles having only fallen to defeat once in the past 20 games, last time out.
And Iraola is under no illusions about how tough it will be at Selhurst Park on Saturday.
Read more:
“I think they have a very good team and I think they have a very good manager and they've been incredible,” he said.
“You see the stats, a lot of times when you have these stats in front [of you], it's better not to show the players a lot of stats because otherwise they feel this is going to be impossible almost, because they've been in an incredible run.
“Even after, I think 19 games unbeaten, the other day they lost against Everton, probably one of the best games they played in this run.
(Image: Jonathan Brady/PA Wire)
“They should have been winning, I think 2 or 3-0, easily, that game. And at the end, because football is football and sometimes this happens and you lose a game.
“But they played really well the last game. But also I have to trust my players and think that we can be competitive against teams like Palace that are around us on the table.
“I think they've been around us the last two, three seasons we've been there, both teams more or less the same place in the standings and always have been very competitive.
“The games against them, very small things make the difference and I think we have to be very good to be there, level with them, to have chances to try to score first and we know it's going to be a tough place to go.
“They have been really, really good, very consistent. Also the things they do normally, the same starting XI, same system, but they are also very honest, very disciplined.
“It's a team that is very difficult to beat, as we know, everyone knows. It's not a big secret.”
Palace are the only side in the league not to concede a first half goal this season – but Iraola hopes his team will be the first to put one past Dean Henderson in the first 45 minutes.
(Image: Jonathan Brady/PA Wire)
“It's something that we've been talking about,” he said.
“They haven't been losing basically, just some seconds after Everton has scored the winner. But they haven't been also in an uncomfortable position this season.
“They've been so good that they haven't had even the need to come back from bad results. It's always very important to score the first goal.
“But I think in games like against Palace that they don't concede chances that they defend so well. I think it's massive.
“If we could score first, I don't care if it's second half, even better because it means less time remaining. But it's true that after seven games not to concede any goals in the first half because definitely they start very well the games.”