Are Crystal Palace Sleepwalking Into a Premier League Relegation Fight?

A poor run of form for Crystal Palace has raised relegation fears – could they actually go down?

Crystal Palace head into the second half of the season with an uncomfortable feeling around them.

After a historic 2025 that delivered an FA Cup triumph and their best-ever Premier League points return, the early weeks of 2026 have dragged them back to earth.

Their captain has left, their top goalscorer looks to be joining him, and their manager has one foot out of the door.

Add to that uncertainty a poor run of form, and it leaves the Eagles sliding down the bottom half, with an upcoming run of fixtures that could define whether their season becomes another mid-table story or something far more ominous.

Are Crystal Palace in a relegation battle?

A relegation battle would have sounded absurd before Christmas. Palace were flying around early December, briefly sitting fourth and being priced at long odds to even finish in the bottom half. Since then, the mood has changed quite drastically.

A difficult six or seven weeks have seen form completely fall away and confidence drain.

Oliver Glasner’s side are now winless in 11 games across all competitions – eight of which in the Premier League – including the humiliating FA Cup defeat to Macclesfield.

The league form has seen them slip to 15th in the table, eight points above 18th-placed West Ham. It’s not crisis mode yet, but complacency would be dangerous.

The mental shift is often the hardest part. Teams that fail to recognise they are being dragged into trouble can lose valuable ground before reacting.

Crystal Palace next Premier League fixtures

• Sun 1 Feb – Nottingham Forest (A)
• Sun 8 Feb – Brighton & Hove Albion (A)
• Wed 11 Feb – Burnley (H)
• Sun 22 Feb – Wolves (H)
• Sun 1 Mar – Manchester United (A)
• Thu 5 Mar – Tottenham (A)
• Sat 14 Mar – Leeds United (H)

If Palace are to steady themselves, the next stretch of league games is pivotal.

Five of their next seven Premier League matches come against teams on similar points or below them.

Home games against Burnley and Wolves are very winnable on paper, and they also host a tricky Leeds side at the end of this stretch.

But first, they travel to Nottingham Forest – the closest team to West Ham – where defeat would really drag them into the conversation. A win for Forest would propel them level on points with Palace.

These are the types of games that usually decide whether a season stays calm or turns ugly.

If they carry on slumping across these so-called winnable fixtures, it could pull them directly into the scrap before a tougher run-in arrives.

Standards in the lower half of the table are so much higher these days, and grinding out points has become harder across the whole division.

Why Crystal Palace are sliding down the table

The numbers back up the concern. Palace were outstanding across 2025, ranking among the league’s strongest sides on both points and underlying data. The problem is how quickly that level has dropped.

They are still creating chances, but converting them remains a season-long weakness. Jean-Philippe Mateta has been inconsistent in front of goal, which has only been magnified by transfer noise around his future.

More worrying is the defensive regression. Even before the departure of Marc Guehi, Palace were conceding higher-quality chances, and opponents have punished them at a more efficient rate than last season.

That combination is dangerous when the margins are so tight.

Could Crystal Palace go down?

There are reasons for optimism for Palace fans.

The return of Ismaila Sarr from AFCON and Daniel Munoz from injury will restore balance and goal threat down the right-hand side, an area that had become a real problem for Glasner.

They also seem to be active in the transfer market in the late days of the window, having agreed a deal to sign Jorgen Strand Larsen from Wolves as a Mateta replacement, as well as Evan Guessand from Aston Villa.

With their early FA Cup exit, they at least have a little more breathing room when it comes to fixture congestion.

That’s been a common stumbling block for Premier League sides new to juggling European competition, particularly when they haven’t quite got the squad depth to rotate the team effectively.

History suggests Palace are capable of riding out bleak runs. Recent seasons have included long winless spells without serious danger materialising.

The concern this time is expectation. Last season raised hopes that the club could finally move beyond survival cycles, but it seems that isn’t the case just yet.

If Crystal Palace can rediscover something close to their 2025 level, relegation talk will fade quickly. But if the current levels persist, the margin for error will shrink even further.

The next few weeks may not decide everything, but they will tell everyone exactly what kind of fight lies ahead.