Newcastle's trip to Crystal Palace may have some added pressure attached to it

Crystal Palace manager Pierre Sage has cast doubt over his future as Eagles boss ahead of Newcastle United's trip to Selhurst Park this weekend.

Palace were thrashed 5-0 by fierce rivals Brighton and Hove Albion on Sunday to pile huge pressure on the former Lens head coach after an indifferent start to life in South London.

Palace have picked up seven points from their opening seven Premier League matches and will head into this weekend's clash with the Magpies one point behind their opponents.

Get Chronicle Premium now for just £1 HERE – exclusive news and features, our NUFC and Academy notebooks, John Gibson's columns plus an ad-lite experience

But after such a damaging defeat at the AMEX Stadium, the heat has been turned up on Sage and when asked if he believes he will still be in charge to turn Palace's fortunes around, Sage cast more doubt on his future by saying: "I don’t know.”

He went on to offer an apology to the fans, adding: "We are not at the level we expected, and I’m really sorry for that. I just want to apologise to the fans because it’s not normal to show this face.

Make sure you never miss the latest Newcastle United news and opinion by making Chronicle Live one of your Google preferred sources.

"I cannot blame anybody because we didn’t do the job in a good way. I’m responsible for this team, and when the team play as today, it’s not normal. It’s my fault. I understand them.

"The first work to do is on me. I’m responsible for what’s happened on the pitch, and I have a lot of work to do because I have to change this kind of thing.

"It’s maybe in the preparation, in the way we give them the motivation to start the game just before in the locker room in the warm-up.

"We have to analyse that because it’s not normal. And today it was really at the highest level we cannot expect, and that’s the moment to change the thing."

Palace face a tough trip to Besiktas on Thursday in the Europa League before returning to Premier League action against the Magpies on Sunday.

It is a big game for Matthias Jaissle, too, who has come under pressure of his own after a damaging week that saw Newcastle thrashed 4-1 by newly promoted Coventry City before losing 1-0 at home to Aston Villa.

Questions have been raised over his tactical set-up and whether he is getting the best out of his Magpies players and after back-to-back 4-1 defeats away from home, Saturday's trip to Palace feels like a major opportunity to turn the tide against a team who have conceded more goals than any other side in the Premier League.