Crystal Palace host Newcastle with Pierre Sage's future in question
Crystal Palace host Newcastle on Sunday, and the result could weigh heavily on Pierre Sage's first season in charge. The Premier League's official fixture list has the game at 2pm GMT, shown live on Sky Sports.
Palace come into it under pressure. They lost at Brighton last week, then drew with Besiktas in the Europa League, Europe's second club competition, in midweek. In seven league matches they have conceded 17 goals, according to The Guardian. Sage has still picked up league wins over Fulham and Nottingham Forest.
Sage replaced Oliver Glasner, who built a very different side. Glasner set Palace up to counterattack, using a shape with three centre-backs and a single striker, and the club won three trophies in 12 months under him. Sage has pushed a more aggressive approach. Before joining Palace, he had led Lens to the French Cup.
The pressure is public. Palace chairman Steve Parish warned Sage after the Brighton defeat that results must improve quickly or he will be dismissed, The Guardian reported. Reports have also linked Thomas Frank and Kieran McKenna with the job if Sage goes.
Newcastle are in a period of change of their own. Eddie Howe has left, and Matthias Jaissle, who is 38, took over as head coach. Newcastle paid Al-Ahli £9.5m in compensation to secure him. Jaissle is the club's first German head coach and its first overseas manager since Rafael Benitez in 2019, according to the club.
The turnover runs deeper than the dugout. Newcastle sold Sandro Tonali, Anthony Gordon and Bruno Guimarães over the summer. They then made eight signings, four of them aged 20 or under. Nico González is the only one of the new arrivals with Premier League experience. The club also changed manager three weeks before the season began, and its backroom staff is almost entirely new. Dan Burn has been named captain.
Newcastle have history on their side in this fixture. They beat Palace 2-0 at St James' Park in the 2025/26 season.
For Palace, the immediate task is simple to describe and hard to deliver: stop conceding, and turn chances into points. For Newcastle, it is about bringing a young squad and a new coach together quickly. Both clubs are looking for a way out of a poor run, and Sunday offers one of them a chance to start climbing.
