Pardew facing his moment of truth
ALAN PARDEW believes the next three games will define Crystal Palace’s season and it is increasingly probable that they will also determine his future as the club’s manager. Sportsmail understands Pardew’s position is in serious jeopardy on the back of a five-match losing streak and defeat at Swansea today would leave him perilously close to the sack. With subsequent games against Southampton and Hull, sources around the club believe the 55-year-old is highly unlikely to survive unless he delivers results in this stretch. By Pardew’s own admission yesterday, the pressure has intensified with the disappointing opening half of Palace’s season following on from the poor results they managed in the second half of the last. It is a damning statistic that they have the worst pointsper-game ratio in English football in 2016 and have not kept a Premier League clean sheet since April. Despite the fall-off in results, Pardew insisted yesterday he has sought no assurances from the Palace owners over his future. He said: ‘I am realistic about it — if you lose five games in the Premier League you are going to get a certain amount of pressure and no one can be immune to that. Certainly not myself. But I have been in this situation before and I have never asked for assurances from the board. ‘The points total we get in the next three games will be crucial to where we finish. We still think we can finish high up in the league.’