Crystal Palace have today sacked manager Alan Pardew after a poor run of results leaves them 17th in the Premier League at Christmas.

The Eagles had made a fine start to the season, winning three of their opening six league matches, but eight defeats in their last ten matches has seen them slump down the table and into the relegation scrap.

This follows a poor end to the 2015/16 campaign, which saw them pick up just 11 points in their 19 matches since the turn of the year.

Add that onto the disappointing tally of 15 from their 17 games this time around, and Palace have the worst points-to-game ratio of the 92 clubs in the Football League for 2016.

Pardew did lead the Eagles to their second ever FA Cup final back in May, although they lost to Manchester United in the final, but their league form has been poor, and he has now paid for his job.

Attentions have started turning to who could replace the 55-year-old, but here we have identified the FIVE games that lost Pardew his job at Selhurst Park…

Aston Villa 1-0 Crystal Palace (January 12)

All the way back on January 12, Aston Villa won for just the second time in the Premier League all season, and it was at the expense of Crystal Palace.

Pardew’s side had just lost 3-0 at home to Chelsea to start 2016, and would have fancied their chances against the division’s worst side, yet they didn’t turn up.

A terrible error from Wayne Hennessey gifted Villa all three points and, although it may not have seemed hugely significant at the time, it sparked a run of five successive defeats, and nine defeats in 11.

A victory there may well have instigated an improved set of results in the second half of the season, and may have given Pardew more time this season.

Crystal Palace 0-1 West Ham (October 15)

The 1-0 defeat at home to West Ham sparked off the run of defeats which ultimately ended Pardew’s stint in charge at Selhurst Park.

The Eagles went into the game having won three and drawn two of their previous five matches, and would have fancied their chances against a West Ham side that lost five of their previous seven games.

However, Palace produced a disappointing display, which was topped off by Christian Benteke’s woeful penalty.

They lacked any sort of intent going forward, and were deservedly beaten by the ten-man Hammers. As we’ve seen before, Pardew often goes on a winning streak or a losing streak, so if they could have at least avoided defeat against West Ham, it may have prevented the disastrous run which followed.

Swansea 5-4 Crystal Palace (November 26)

You cannot expect to win Premier League matches when you concede five goals away from home.

The Eagles took the lead through Wilfried Zaha early on, and then found themselves 4-3 up with just minutes to go thanks to Christian Benteke’s strike.

However, on both occasions they let Swansea back into it, with poor defending once again to blame for Fernando Llorente’s injury-time brace, which sealed a 5-4 win and a quite extraordinary comeback.

Bob Bradley’s Swans have scored just 20 times in the league this season, which means that a quarter of those goals were against Palace.

The Eagles were hopeless defensively against the Swans, and the defeat was their six successive one in the Premier League, their worst run in three years.

It was a shambolic display, and ultimately signalled the beginning of the end for Pardew.

Hull 3-3 Crystal Palace (December 10)

Palace went to the KCOM Stadium off the back of a fine 3-0 victory over Southampton the week before, and would have gone there in high spirits after an excellent display against the Saints.

Hull had won just one of their preceding 12 games, and in that time had managed just six goals, but they easily got through the Palace defence on several occasions.

Palace led 2-1 with 20 minutes to go, and again weren’t able to see the game out.

As we’ve mentioned, Palace often go on winning streaks, and a win there would have been two in a row ahead of the Manchester United game.

A win at Hull, and Pardew would probably still be in a job.

Crystal Palace 0-1 Chelsea (December 17)

The game that ultimately lost Pardew his job – the 1-0 defeat at home Chelsea last weekend.

There’s no disgrace in losing to Antonio Conte’s men, it was the Blues’ 11th win in a row, but it was the culmination of a disastrous 2016 which was only kept alive by a run to the FA Cup final.

Again, Palace didn’t play badly, but didn’t do enough when in the final third to warrant getting anything from the game. And the goal Chelsea scored was, arguably, the result of a defensive error.

Six league wins in 36 games just isn’t good enough, and Pardew has paid for that with his job.