Crystal Palace

Alex Howell
BBC Sport football news reporter

Image source, Getty Images

Oliver Glasner is not in immediate danger of being sacked by Crystal Palace following their poor start to the season - but results must improve, and quickly.

Palace are one of four sides without a win in the Premier League so and find themselves in the bottom three.

The Eagles, who ended last season winning six of their last seven games, have looked a completely different side to that one - devoid of confidence and the ability to score goals.

Palace host Tottenham at the weekend, a game they would be underdogs in anyway, before massive matches in the Premier League against fellow winless side Wolves and Fulham.

Glasner accepted after the Nottingham Forest defeat that he may need to change formation from his favoured 3-4-3 system to get the most out of his side.

Summer signing Eddie Nketiah has yet to score in the league and Daichi Kamada is struggling for form and a position that suits him best.

Adam Wharton, who had such an impressive breakthrough season in the Premier League for Palace and is key to how they play, is struggling with a groin issue and was an unused substitute at Forest.

Palace have changed managers when they have been in threat of relegation before.

Sources say the conversation around Glasner's future has not yet been had, but that could change if form does not pick up before the November international break.

Graham Potter, David Moyes and Gareth Southgate are potential candidates to succeed Oliver Glasner if he is sacked by Crystal Palace. (Guardian), external

Want more transfer stories? Read Wednesday's full gossip column

Image source, PA Media

Crystal Palace's 1-0 loss at Nottingham Forest on Monday meant that for the first time in the English top-flight's 126-year history, four clubs have failed to win any of their first eight matches of a league season.

Palace, Ipswich, Southampton and Wolves are all yet to be victorious in the Premier League this campaign.

According to Opta,, external 10 clubs in the Premier League era (since 1992-93) have failed to win any of their first eight games and yet have gone on to avoid relegation.

The most recent of those came last season when Bournemouth, who did not win until their 10th league fixture of 2023-24, recovered to finish 12th.

Before Saints and Wolves did so this season, there had only been six occasions when a team had taken one point or fewer from their opening eight matches of a Premier League season.

Two of those sides ended up surviving - Southampton in 1998-99 and Sunderland in 2013-14.

Alex Pewter
Fan writer

Image source, Getty Images

Entering Monday's game at Nottingham Forest, Crystal Palace had been through a series of close fixtures, often undone by individual errors.

After 65 minutes, having been part of yet another tight match, they were again foiled by a mistake.

Dean Henderson was the guilty party this week, fumbling at what would normally be a regulation save.

There are a series of questions needing a multitude of answers and, as is often the case in football, winning can bury many and losing only highlights them.

Alas, this team is unable to win games and in truth, very few fans expected a comeback once Chris Wood had put Forest into a seemingly unassailable 1-0 lead.

Here lies the problem: in a sport where goals are precious currency, this Palace team is verging on insolvency. With four non-penalty goals through the opening eight matches, the margins are fine enough that bad luck, deserved or not, becomes a considerable deciding factor.

Statistically, the team is taking plenty of shots, but much like the speculative efforts from Eddie Nketiah and Eberechi Eze on Monday, they are being held to long range.

The team is currently 10th in the division with shots taken, but 19th in average xG [expected goals] per chance, with an average distance that is outside of the area. Long-range efforts may be ones for the cameras, but are by their nature low-percentage chances.

So given those factors, is it any surprise that Oliver Glasner's team has the worst shot conversion rate in the entire league? Possibly not.

There is still merit in discussing the summer's transfer activity as a mitigating factor in Glasner's struggles; however, the team is forced to make do with the current crop of attacking talents at least until January.

There is still much credit in the bank for Palace's manager, but with the league position becoming more perilous, solving the attacking conundrum is a more pressing issue week after week.

Find more from Alex Pewter at FYP podcast, external

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It is only the fourth time in Crystal Palace's history they have failed to win any of their opening eight league games, the previous occasion coming in the 1992-93 Premier League season. Palace were relegated at the end of that campaign.

It is not all doom and gloom for the Eagles though, because other teams have been here before - and stayed up.

Ten times a side has failed to win any of their opening eight Premier League games and managed to avoid the drop.

Bournemouth had an identical record to Palace at this stage last season - no wins, three draws and five losses - and finished 12th.

That also happens to be one of 13 occasions a team has gone on to avoid relegation after collecting only three points from their first eight Premier League matches.

Palace have managed to do that twice themselves, in 2014 and 2018.

Is it as bad as it seems? More analysis over here

Image source, Getty Images

We asked for your thoughts after Monday's Premier League game between Nottingham Forest and Crystal Palace.

Here are some of your comments:

Forest fans

Doug: Very good performance, seeing as we had two key players out of the starting line-up. The most encouraging thing was that once we scored, we did not sit back and allow the opposing team to come on to us. A solid defensive performance as well.

Ken: A great win against a side who are better than their league position suggests. The table doesn't lie - we deserve to be where we are. So many brilliant performances from Matz Sels, Murillo, Nikola Milenkovic, Elliot Anderson, Ryan Yates and Chris Wood. Win on Friday and we can go fifth for 24 hours!

James: Another first-class performance by Nuno’s boys! Superb defensive line proving different for any team to breakdown! Pundits need to think again where Forest may finish this season. Many had written us off already but the Premier League has surprises every season. Fingers crossed the Reds will be one of them.

Palace fans

Mark: No lack of effort but lacking confidence. Too much on Eberechi Eze’s shoulders. Struggling in midfield due to injuries. Need a win and quickly. Going to be a long hard season. Must stick with the manager but we could be reliant on the promoted sides faltering or not improving. Massive six pointer against Wolves.

Christopher: Another defeat and of course things are now getting more and more gloomy. I simply cannot see where the goals are going to come from. The defence looks nervous and with a bad error from our goalkeeper, Dean Henderson is going to be extremely nervous against Spurs this Saturday, as will the fans. I’ll be at Selhurst, but it’s going to be a hard watch.

Gavin: Groundhog Day: We started well, but we cannot sustain any momentum. Tactical changes required as we do not look like scoring. Eddie Nketiah needs to play as an out-and-out number nine because he is persistently too deep. Ismaila Sarr should be used for his rapid pace and ability to cross into the box while the midfield is simply ineffective. Incredibly frustrating performances of late.

Image source, Getty Images

Since their top-flight return in 2013-14, Crystal Palace have failed to score in 150 Premier League games, 28 more than any other side (Newcastle and Everton, both 122).

Image source, Getty Images

Crystal Palace boss Oliver Glasner spoke about Dean Henderson's mistake in Monday's defeat by Nottingham Forest: "He tried to apologise but I didn't allow it.

"It's not to blame anybody, he made such big saves for us this season and last - it happens, it's sport and they are all human.

"He doesn't need to apologise for a mistake he makes. It's always how we deal with them, the reaction of the team gives me a positive feeling for the next games.

"We know the challenges we have and we will need Dean and he will help us for sure."

Were you at the game or following from elsewhere?

Have your say on Forest's performance, external

What did you make of Palace’s display?, external

Come back to this page on Tuesday to find a selection of your replies

Borussia Dortmund's English winger Jamie Bynoe-Gittens, 20, is drawing interest from Arsenal, Tottenham, Crystal Palace and Nottingham Forest – though the German club want more than £50m for the player before they will consider selling. (Caught Offside, external)

Want more transfer stories? Read Monday's full gossip column

Sutton is making predictions for all 380 Premier League matches this season, against a variety of guests.

For week eight, he takes on legendary boxing manager Kellie Maloney.

Sutton's prediction: 1-0

Crystal Palace need the win more, that is for sure. You can tell by listening to their manager Oliver Glasner that he knows he needs a positive result quickly, just to get that spark from last season back.

Glasner wants to play this expansive brand of football but results mean a bit of doubt has crept in, and that is really evident from their performances.

This all points towards a Nottingham Forest home win, which is what I am going with, but the good news for Palace is that every time I predict one of those, they stuff it up - Forest are yet to win at the City Ground this season.

Kellie's prediction: Forest are playing well and Palace need a win. I am going with a draw. 2-2

Read the rest of their predictions, and have your own say here

Image source, Opta

With the October international break now firmly in the rearview mirror, Opta Analyst, external have turned their attention to the next four Premier League fixtures.

Here, they have given each team a ranking between 80 and 100 and then found the average to determine to difficulty of the schedule.

Liverpool's opening seven matches were ranked the easiest in the league, but their upcoming four are the fourth-toughest in the division. They will face Chelsea, Arsenal, Aston Villa and Brighton, with an average opponent strength of 91.4 before the next international break.

Fellow early pacesetters Arsenal also have challenging fixtures, playing Bournemouth, Liverpool, Newcastle and Chelsea with an average rating of 90.7, while Manchester City's next four against Wolves, Southampton, Bournemouth and Brighton are ranked the third-easiest by Opta.

Chelsea and Brighton have the second-hardest and third-hardest runs respectively, a real test given the promising starts for their new managers Enzo Maresca and Fabian Hurzeler.

At the other end of the table, Leicester - who recently secured their first win of the season against Bournemouth - have a chance to build with the easiest run in the division. They face Southampton, Nottingham Forest, Ipswich and Manchester United.

Fellow promoted side Ipswich will hope to pick up their first win of the season during a run of games that is ranked the fifth-easiest.

Image source, Getty Images

Oliver Glasner says "it isn't so settled" at Crystal Palace at the moment but they are working hard to turn their performances and results around.

The Eagles are third from bottom having secured just three points from seven games and travel to Nottingham Forest on Monday for their first game following the international break.

"Regarding the results, no, we are not going in the right direction," said Glasner. "We wanted and expected a little bit more.

"The performances for many parts of the games have been competitive but in the end we lose or draw. Sometimes we lose our focus or miss clear chances to get a better result.

"It isn't so settled at the moment and that is what we're working at. We can create more chances and situations to score goals. We can defend better.

"We don't look back. Yes, we analyse but we try to improve day by day. We stick together, work hard and let's improve because then we can get the results."

Katie Stafford
BBC Sport journalist

Crystal Palace boss Oliver Glasner has been speaking to the media before Monday's Premier League game against Nottingham Forest (kick-off 20:00 BST).

Here are the key lines from his news conference:

• There are no new injury concerns following the international break and Adam Wharton is available.

• Glasner said "no injured players are coming back" in time, but Cheick Doucoure "will train in parts after the Forest game".

• More from Glasner on Wharton: "He is ready [to play], but it's always the same that we have to manage him. He saw another specialist, so it's always an up and down. He trained quite well this week and he's in good shape - so it's OK."

• On whether things are going in the right direction: "Regarding the results, no, we are not going in the right direction. We wanted and expected a little bit more. Everything isn't so settled at the moment."

• He said he "tried to switch off" by spending the break with his family in Austria, but his family members said "it's like you're not really here". Glasner added: "That is the fate of a football a manager. Your thoughts are always with your team and what you can influence."

• On what he has been saying to the club during this period: "Stick together, work hard and let's improve because then we can get the results."

• He said they "tried to make the best of the break" and it "is a positive" that they have three days to prepare to face Forest.

• On Monday's opponents: "They've had quite a good start and they are very compact so they don't concede many goals. Very physical team with a lot of pace."

Follow all of Friday's Premier League news conferences and the rest of the day's football news

Image source, Opta

After the October international break, the Opta supercomputer has updated its projected final Premier League table.

It is only seven matches into the campaign so much can still change, but the season is beginning to take shape. The supercomputer simulates thousands of seasons and takes the percentage each side finishes in each league position.

Southampton remain most likely to finish bottom but their one point from seven games has seen their chances increasing dramatically from 28.6% to 61%.

A solid start, despite no win yet, has seen Ipswich's probability of finishing 17th creep up from 12% to 15.2% - but a 19th-placed finish has increased from 21.3% to 25.3%.

Leicester's most likely finish has changed from bottom to 18th after their first win under Steve Cooper, while Crystal Palace's poor start has seen their chances of ending in their current position of 18th go from 1.1% to 7.2%.

Wolves finished 18th in 9.7% of simulations before a ball was kicked but the now-bottom side are now at 20.1% to end in that position after a winless first seven games.

Do you know who Palace's fastest player is?

He joined in the summer and tops the chart after seven Premier League games.

Find out here

Palace are eyeing David Moyes, 61, to replace manager Oliver Glasner, 50, after a poor start to the Premier League season. (Caughtoffside, external)

Thomas Tuchel's appointment as England manager has boosted Newcastle's hopes of signing England and Crystal Palace defender Marc Guehi, 24, with Eddie Howe now more likely to remain at St James' Park. (Givemesport, external)

However, Palace are not willing to entertain any offers for 26-year-old Senegal forward Ismaila Sarr in January. (Football Insider, external)

Want more transfer stories? Read Thursday's full gossip column

Tottenham and Crystal Palace are both interested in 21-year-old Lille and Iceland winger Hakon Arnar Haraldsson. (Football Transfers, external)

Want more transfer stories? Read Wednesday's full gossip column