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Key players have gone, the manager is leaving and has criticised the club and upset fans – yet Crystal Palace‘s chaotic campaign could still end in European glory.

It has been a wild 12 months for the Eagles, who have found themselves in the headlines on an almost daily basis.

“I don’t know what all the fuss was about,” joked captain Dean Henderson shortly after they gained a 2-0 win over Bosnian side Zrinjski to seal a 3-1 aggregate victory and reach the last 16 of the Conference League.

It has been an emotional rollercoaster for Palace supporters.

In May they won their first major trophy, beating Manchester City to win the FA Cup, then added another three months later with a penalty shootout win over Liverpool to clinch the Community Shield.

But winger Eberechi Eze left for Arsenal, skipper Marc Guehi nearly joined Liverpool, then moved to Manchester City five months later and top scorer Jean-Philippe Mateta was on the verge of signing for AC Milan, only to fail a medical.

Oliver Glasner, the most successful manager in the club’s history, then announced in January he was leaving at the end of the season, before telling the club’s board they had “abandoned” the squad.

Asked if he had assurance of his job from his bosses, Glasner said “100%”, adding: “There’s so much noise, sometimes you really don’t understand it. Maybe I gave some interviews that were not helpful and I have to admit that, but I’m always telling what I’m feeling, it’s how I am.

“We’re in a very good position in the league and the Conference League and it is up to us to make a really great season of it.”

Palace are 13th in the Premier League, but 10 points clear of the relegation zone and only three away from eighth, which could be a position high enough to secure a European return next season.

For Glasner, he says the way the players are still performing for him is enough evidence that his job is secure.

“If the players believe in me and the staff, that’s the most important thing, otherwise, you can pack your suitcase and go home because the players have to perform on the pitch,” added the Austrian.

“We have a great togetherness in the group – players, staff, really positive. The same with the sporting director and the chairman. They are sometimes wondering, ‘Hey, this is the second-best Premier League season ever’.

The Conference League, Europe’s third-tier competition, is only in its fifth season, with two English sides – West Ham in 2023 and Chelsea in 2025 – among its first four winners.

From the start of this season’s edition Palace have been the bookmakers’ favourites, even though they only finished 10th in the league phase and had to go through two matches against Bosnian champions Zrinjski to get into the last 16.

But there are not many clubs in the competition Palace will fear.

They will find out on Friday whether they play German side Mainz, a team 13th in the Bundesliga, or Cypriot side Larnaca, who only scored seven goals in six league phase matches, though they did beat Palace 1-0 in October.

“We’re hungry for more [silverware] but you don’t talk about winning it three months out,” added goalkeeper Henderson, who became Palace captain after Guehi left the club.

“It’s knockout football and we go into it with confidence. You see the supporters get into the stadium early and Selhurst was rocking tonight and we can make it a fortress.”

Former Palace defender James Tomkins, speaking on TNT Sports, said: “They go through to the next stage, into the last 16 of this competition and they are favourites to go on and win it from here.

“They’ve got to concentrate on the Conference League. The opportunity they’ve got is incredible. To add a third trophy in two seasons would be remarkable and beyond the wildest dreams of the fans.

Glasner, whose side have now gained two successive victories after a 12-game run from December without a win, felt the club were in a good position to push on and end the season well.

“It means a lot. We have not had easy days but now back-to-back wins at Selhurst Park,” he added. “Everybody was expecting a win and they are the most difficult ones.

“Since day one we have had a great relationship with the fans. Yes, they have been a bit critical but they can be when the results and performances are not there.

“But we are in a good position in the Premier League, three points behind position eight, and in the last 16 of the Conference League.

“Now it is different to the autumn when we were playing three competitions, 12 weeks playing every third day.”

Stephen Bunting silenced his critics as he inflicted a third final defeat of the season on Gian van Veen to win night four of the Premier League in Belfast.

The 40-year-old has seen his place in the tournament questioned by spectators after he failed to win a game in the first three weeks.

That followed ‘the Bullet’ taking nine weeks to register a point in last year’s event – his first involvement since being a challenger in 2020.

Bunting, who has come off social media because of the criticism, registered his highest Premier League average (106.63) in his 6-4 quarter-final win over defending champion Luke Humphries.

He backed that up with another 106 average in a 6-0 clean sweep against current league leader Jonny Clayton in the semi-finals, before a clinical 6-2 win over Van Veen in the final.

“I do believe I am one of the best players in the world – I deserve to be in the Premier League,” Bunting told Sky Sports.

“Everyone was writing me off, people saying I should not be in it, but I know how hard I work behind the scenes. These are the nights I play for.

“Losing seven or eight on the bounce last year really helped me, gave me a lot of experience in this field. When you play in the Premier League, you’re playing against the best of the best. This ranks up as one of the best wins of my career.”

Van Veen, who is playing in the tournament for the first time, has impressed in making three finals in four weeks but is struggling to get over the line.

Northern Ireland’s Josh Rock, who is the other debutant in this year’s field, lost 6-2 to Van Veen in the quarters, but delighted the home crowd with the first nine-darter of this year’s tournament.

Despite the nine-darter, the 6-2 defeat was a fourth successive loss by that score for Rock in his debut Premier League campaign.

Known as one of the biggest scorers on the tour, the 24-year-old has struggled to replicate that – averaging 92.33 across the four weeks – and his checkout percentage is 29.63% (eight from 27).

Despite that, he now has a memory he will never forget, after which the home faithful lauded him.

Speaking to Sky Sports, Rock said: “My body is in overdrive. I’m shaking like a leaf. I’ve never played in the Premier League, never mind a nine-darter in Belfast.

“Never mind the loss – throwing a nine-darter in front of the home crowd is a huge achievement. I don’t care if I never throw a nine-darter again – this is a dream come true.”

However, former World Championship semi-finalist Wayne Mardle said Rock “needs to start putting performances together”.

“I was saying he’s got no composure and can’t string two darts together, let alone three,” he said on Sky Sports.

“He won’t know where it has come from. It was incredible, but while it is great for him, he needs and wants to play miles better than that. He needs to start putting performances together.

“They [four 6-2 defeats in a row] are hidings. He needs to improve.

Quarter-finals

Luke Littler 3-6 Jonny Clayton

Stephen Bunting 6-4 Luke Humphries

Michael van Gerwen 5-6 Gerwyn Price

Gian van Veen 6-2 Josh Rock

Semi-finals

Clayton 0-6 Bunting

Price 5-6 Van Veen

Final

Premier League Darts is played across 16 initial weeks in the league stage with quarter-finals, semi-finals and a final each night.

Each of the eight players is guaranteed to face the other seven in the quarter-finals in weeks one to seven and 9-15, with week eight and week 16 fixtures done off the table. It means we will get fourth v fifth in Sheffield on the final league-stage night, with the play-off spots potentially on the line.

Players earn two points per quarter-final win, an additional point if they win their semi-final and five for winning the night.

The top four players after the group stage progress to the play-off night at London’s O2 Arena on 23 May, with first facing fourth and second against third in a best-of-19-leg match. The final, which is the best of 21 legs, follows.

Thursday, 5 March – Utilita Arena, Cardiff

Quarter-finals

Michael van Gerwen v Luke Humphries

Gian van Veen v Jonny Clayton

Gerwyn Price v Stephen Bunting

Manchester United have confirmed sacking Ruben Amorim could end up costing the club almost £16m.

The Portuguese was dismissed on 5 January following his public attack on the club’s hierarchy after a 1-1 draw at Leeds the previous day.

The figure was released in a filing to the New York Stock Exchange on Thursday, a day after the club confirmed they had made a profit of £32.6m in their second-quarter results to 31 December 2025.

Listed as an “event that occurred after the reporting period”, United confirmed an amortised fee of £6.3m – which related to the cost of getting Amorim to Old Trafford from Sporting in November 2024 – had been written off and a “provision of £15.9m” would be made, representing the highest amount United could be liable to pay Amorim and his coaching staff.

Amorim is yet to speak publicly about his time at United and sources close to the 41-year-old have said there is no immediate likelihood of that changing.

The payment completes an expensive managerial experiment that ultimately ended badly.

United confirmed in a similar filing on 27 November 2024 they were paying Sporting £11m to hire Amorim to replace Erik ten Hag, whose exit was costing £10.4m.

It means the combined changes around Amorim could cost £37.3m.

His 14-month stint in charge was the shortest reign of a permanent manager at Old Trafford since David Moyes was sacked just eight months into his tenure in 2014.

Amorim won 25 of his 63 games in charge, finishing 15th in the Premier League, United’s worst performance since they were relegated in 1973-74.

They also lost the Europa League final, meaning they have no European football this season for only the second time since 1990.

This term, Amorim’s team were embarrassed by League Two Grimsby, who beat them on penalties in the Carabao Cup second round.

United were sixth in the Premier League when he was dismissed, having had a major fallout with director of football Jason Wilcox days before the Leeds game.

Although under-18s coach and former United midfielder Darren Fletcher was named as interim boss for two games, Michael Carrick has been given the job until the end of the season and won his fifth game out of six when his team beat Everton on Monday.

They are now fourth, and well placed to qualify for the Champions League.

Meanwhile, United have also confirmed they have increased the available credit from their drawdown facility by £50m to £400m, while also paying off £75m, meaning they currently owe £215m on it.

Home favourite and two-time champion Mark Williams is out of the Welsh Open after losing to Barry Hawkins.

Williams, who had sailed into the last 16 with an impressive 4-1 win over Martin O’Donnell, took a 2-1 lead, producing his highest break of the tournament (115) in the second frame.

A key moment came in the fifth in which Williams would have gone 3-2 up, only for the white to go in off the middle pocket.

England’s Hawkins, the 2018 runner-up, took the opportunity to clear the table before winning the sixth frame with a break of 84 to seal victory.

“I thought it was a good match, we both played really well,” Williams told BBC Sport Wales.

“I made some great breaks and just a little bit of luck in the last couple of frames decided the way it went.

Hawkins will meet another two-time champion, Neil Robertson, in the last eight after the Australian edged Welshman Jones 4-3.

Jones had made a flying start with a 126 break, before Robertson responded in kind with a 122 break.

With the match later tied at 3-3, Robertson came out on top of the deciding seventh frame to claim victory.

Jones’ exit left Page as the only Welsh hope, but he was beaten by Jack Lisowski who amassed breaks of 67, 84, 99 and 54 in a convincing 4-2 victory.

John Higgins remains on course for a sixth Welsh Open title after defeating Zhang Anda 4-2.

The Scot recovered from dropping the opening frame by amassing 95, 78 and 60 breaks.

China’s Anda responded with a century, before Higgins sealed the match with a superb 144 break, narrowly missing the maximum 147.

Higgins will face the winner of China’s Zhou Yuelong and England’s Sam Craigie for a place in the semi-finals.

Meanwhile there will be an all-Chinese quarter-final between Jiang Jun and Wu Yize, who both saw off English opposition.

Morning and afternoon session

Mark Williams 2-4 Barry Hawkins

Jun Jiang 4-1 Robbie Williams

Jak Jones 3-4 Neil Robertson

Wu Yize 4-0 David Grace

Evening session

Jackson Page 2-4 Jack Lisowski

Zhang Anda 2-4 John Higgins

Stuart Bingham 4-2 Zhao Xintong