Crystal Palace have sacked Patrick Vieira as manager after one win in 14 Premier League games left the club three points above the relegation zone.
The chairman, Steve Parish, told the club website: “It is with enormous regret that this difficult decision has been made. Ultimately, results in recent months have placed us in a precarious league position and we felt a change is necessary to give us the best chance of retaining Premier League status.”
Palace are the only Premier League side without a league win this year, losing six of their 11 fixtures. They visit the leaders, Arsenal, on Sunday in the final game before the international break and Vieira had hoped to oversee the start of a revival at his former club. His final game was a defeat by Palace’s rivals Brighton.
Vieira had been in charge since July 2021, when he took over from Roy Hodgson. He guided Palace to 12th in the Premier League and an FA Cup semi-final in his first season, and is believed to have been frustrated by the lack of investment in the summer and January transfer windows and would point to his side having faced a run of fixtures against clubs in the top half.
“Patrick’s impact since joining us in the summer of 2021 has been significant, and he is held in the highest regard by myself and all of his colleagues,” said Parish, who praised Vieira for getting the team to play “some exciting football” last season. Three members of Vieira’s coaching staff – Osian Roberts, Kristian Wilson and Saïd Aïgoun – have also left.
