Crystal Palace are losing valuable time in transfer window as manager search drags on

They have a fixture list. From September 23, it includes consecutive matches against Manchester City, Manchester United and Chelsea. That should test the new manager, which is what, currently, they don't have.

Now that Southampton have sacked Claude Puel, Palace are also facing competition in the market for a new boss.

After working their way through six managers in five years, perhaps Selhurst Park is used to things being in a state of flux.

The candidates to replace Sam Allardyce have included former Alaves boss, Mauricio Pellegrino, and Burnley's Sean Dyche. But surely any new man would ideally be in place already, planning transfer strategy and the season ahead.

In the era when football management is often spoken about as if it is a new branch of science, early preparation is surely vital.

It was Allardyce's stringently ordered and methodical style which saved the Eagles from the drop. Palace simply cannot afford to let much more time run out.

The club's final six games are against Bournemouth, fierce rivals Brighton, Watford, Leicester, Stoke and West Brom.

Nothing is easy in the Premier League. But if they are caught up in another relegation dogfight, the run-in could be more daunting than it is.

The hope is, though, that Palace can be more ambitious than that after the longest spell in the top flight in the club's history was preserved last May.

Scroll down for Crystal Palace's full fixture list...