The Premier League's Crisis Club? Look no further than Crystal Palace

Graphic with Tommy the Punter's Long Term Fancies and an hourglass graphic on a red background.

Every season throws up one team who look safe on paper but suddenly find themselves sliding towards the trapdoor. This year, Crystal Palace are giving off all the right (or wrong) signals. Marc Guéhi has gone, Oliver Glasner has already announced he’ll be off at the end of the campaign, and the whole thing feels like a club bracing for turbulence rather than building for survival. When the manager and the captain are both out the door, it rarely ends with a calm spring.

And now there’s talk of Jean‑Philippe Mateta being linked with a move away too, which only deepens the sense of instability. He’s been one of the few bright sparks in their attack, and losing him, or even having the uncertainty hanging over him, is the last thing Crystal Palace need. When the spine of your team is wobbling, the rest of the structure usually follows.

The form doesn’t inspire much confidence either. Palace haven’t won a league game since 8 December, and the performances have been as flat as the results. They’re not getting battered, but they’re not convincing anyone they can dig themselves out of trouble either. Add in the Europa Conference League fixtures, a lovely distraction for fans, a nightmare for a thin squad, and suddenly the calendar looks like the enemy.

And the next few weeks could get ugly. A resurgent Chelsea are up next, followed by a tricky trip to Nottingham Forest, who are fighting for their lives and have turned the City Ground into a scrap‑yard. Palace could easily find themselves deeper in the mud before February even begins.

Yes, the home games against Burnley and Wolves offer a lifeline, but even those aren’t guaranteed. Burnley will be playing with nothing to lose, Wolves have improved under Rob Edwards, and Palace have shown they can make even the most winnable fixtures look complicated. If there’s a side in the mid‑table pack who could sleepwalk into a relegation scrap, it’s the one currently hearing alarm bells all across South East London.

At 23.00, this is the perfect speculative punt, the kind you place now, forget about for a bit, and suddenly rediscover in April when Palace are hovering dangerously close to the bottom three. It’s not nailed on, but it doesn’t need to be. It just needs to be interesting.

And Crystal Palace, right now, look very interesting.