Pierre Sage sacked: Palace act with the Eagles bottom of the league

The club thanked Sage and his staff "for their efforts during their time in South London" and said an update on appointing a new manager "will be provided in due course". No interim boss has been named yet, though the international break gives Palace two clear weeks to get their man in before the Coventry trip.

The rot set in at Brighton on 18 October. Palace were 3-0 down inside ten minutes, one of the goals a Diego Gomez strike from the halfway line, and lost 5-0. That matched Brighton's record win over their rivals, a 5-0 back in 1956. Sage had picked teenager Honest Ahanor and 20-year-old Jaydee Canvot in defence, and it showed.

It was an honest answer, and it didn't save him. Palace followed it with a 2-0 home defeat to Newcastle, then lost 2-0 at Tottenham on 31 October after Jean-Philippe Mateta was sent off in the first half. "It's a disaster," Sage told Sky Sports afterwards.

The last act came at Selhurst Park on Sunday 8 November. Palace hit the bar and had a goal ruled out against Liverpool but still lost 3-1, leaving them on two league wins from ten and bottom after a full round of fixtures for the first time since 2017. Europe brought little relief: one win from four Europa League games, including a 3-2 defeat to Sage's old club Lyon, has them 21st in the league phase.

Sage, 47, arrived with serious credentials. He took over at Lyon as interim in November 2023, steered them into a Europa League place and stayed until January 2025. Lens hired him in June 2025, and his one season there was a triumph: runners-up in Ligue 1, a Champions League place, and a 3-1 win over Nice in the Coupe de France final on 22 May 2026, the club's first Coupe de France.

Palace appointed him on 15 June to replace Glasner, who had chosen not to extend his contract after delivering the FA Cup in 2025, then the Community Shield and the Conference League. Glasner now manages Nottingham Forest. Those were enormous shoes, and the squad Sage inherited had been picked apart.

A squad stripped for parts

Michael Olise and Eberechi Eze had already gone, Marc Guehi joined Manchester City in January 2026, and Daniel Munoz and Maxence Lacroix left in the summer. The defence never recovered: Palace have conceded seven goals from headers, three more than any other side.

The attack was hit just as hard. Mateta and Ismaila Sarr, who scored 21 goals in 45 games last season, managed just 183 league minutes between them out of a possible 1,260 under Sage. The BBC put their absence down to a mix of fitness and personal issues tied to both players wanting to leave. Sage still steered Palace into the Carabao Cup quarter-finals, but the league table told the bigger story.

Thomas Frank is the clear favourite. The former Brentford and Tottenham boss is in advanced talks over taking the job, according to the BBC, and has been out of work since Spurs sacked him in February. He knows how to make a smaller Premier League club punch, having taken Brentford up and kept them there during his 2017 to 2025 spell.

The bookmakers had him short even before Palace made it official.

Those prices were set before the BBC's advanced-talks report, so expect Frank to be shorter still wherever the market is open. Sean Dyche, who left Forest earlier this year, is the obvious fallback. For the record, our next Premier League manager sacked guide flagged Sage at 5/1 on 6 October.

Palace are bottom on seven points, one behind Manchester United and Sunderland and two behind Nottingham Forest and Coventry. That makes Coventry away on Saturday 21 November (15:00) a genuine six-pointer against the side sitting 17th. Hull visit Selhurst Park on 29 November, and there's a Europa League home tie with Real Sociedad later that month too.

A fresh voice in the dressing room often sparks a short-term lift, and our new manager bounce guide digs into how reliable that really is. Palace look better placed than most for a bounce: two weeks on the training ground, two winnable-looking league games, and two senior forwards who could yet return to the side. For the bottom end of the table, our Premier League relegation betting guide is the place to start.

Our betting angles

• Frank is the one. Advanced talks, a Premier League track record and odds-on with Sky Bet and Betano before the news even broke. Anyone else is a long shot.
• Coventry away is the bounce game. A new manager, two weeks of preparation and a rival in 17th. We like Palace to avoid defeat at the Coventry Building Society Arena.
• Don't write Palace off. Seven points from ten games is grim, but the gap to 17th is two points and this club lifted a European trophy in 2026.
• Watch the team news. If Mateta and Sarr are back in the picture under a new boss, Palace's goal markets look very different.
• The defence is the worry. 24 conceded in ten, seven from headers. Both teams to score is the natural lean until a new manager tightens things up.

Stake sensibly, ignore the noise of a dramatic week, and never chase a story with money you can't afford to lose.

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