Leeds United watch on as Crystal Palace roll the dice as April clash comes onto the horizon

Crystal Palace have become the latest of Leeds United’s relegation rivals to sack their manager or head coach, having dismissed Patrick Vieira earlier today.

Leeds have, of course, made a decision of that ilk last month, replacing Jesse Marsch with Javi Gracia as the club continued to slide into trouble in the Premier League.

Palace are now the latest club to buckle, sacking Vieira despite the club sitting 12th, after 12 games without a win. Of the entire bottom-half of the Premier League table, only Nottingham Forest, Leicester City and West Ham have stuck by the manager or head coach they started the season with.

Could Crystal Palace be relegated?

This is one thing that will have been at the forefront of the board’s mind when it came to sacking Vieira, who hadn’t overseen a victory in 2023. Leeds are 19th in the table but only four points adrift of Palace, with a game in-hand.

Palace have sunk into the conversation around the relegation battle and have crucial fixtures on the other side of the international break, including a trip to Elland Road on April 8th.

According to The Athletic, Paddy McCarthy will take charge against Arsenal this weekend with the view of Vieira’s permanent successor arriving some time before that trip to Leeds in what’s their second game after the international break.

Whilst Arsenal host Palace this Sunday, Leeds travel to Wolves – another relegation rival – on Saturday.

Palace’s form has taken a real slide and it’s not much of a surprise that the club have moved to sack Vieira at this stage of the season before the international break.

Whilst he’s had a fairly good 18 months at the club, the last two have been poor and there are some huge fixtures for Palace on the other side of the international, including Leeds.

Leeds will have circled that game, which comes four days after a meeting with Nottingham Forest, and been eyeing a win to pull the Eagles into trouble.

Quite what Gracia can expect from Palace remains to be seen, although the focus will be on the three games prior to that for now.

Quiz: How well do you know Leeds United head coach Javi Gracia? Find out here…