For 13 years, Crystal Palace have been playing Premier League football, and during each of those years they have managed to avoid the drop, with it being the longest unbroken top-flight spell in the club's history.
After the success of winning trophies two years in a row, they endured their greatest spell under Oliver Glasner. But now relegation potentially looms over Selhurst Park.
After poor summer recruitment and under new manager Pierre Sage, the Eagles have had a poor start to the season, winning only one game and having the league's worst defensive record, putting them in real danger.
Palace's troubling start
It hasn't been the smoothest transition for Palace under Sage, with the Eagles struggling for form. They have only one win in the ten league games they have played, and it was against Fulham back in early September.
Struggling for wins, they are bottom of the League for the first time since 2017. Much of that is attributable to their horrendous defensive woes, as Palace are currently too easy for teams to play against.
They have conceded 24 goals and, according to Opta, have a shots-faced xG of 21.87, with a full 189 shots faced. They are leaking far too many goals, constantly making slip-ups and giving other teams in the league an easy ride.
Take, for example, their game against Newcastle, who have struggled this season too: Palace let in two easy goals, despite a first half in which they were the better side and should have taken the lead.
Even on Sunday, they had chances, with their xG just slightly lower than Liverpool's, at 2.38 to Liverpool's 2.65. Their defence was picked apart and showed no organisation, with chances slipping through easily.
On fast breaks alone, they have conceded 15 shots, which is the fourth most in the League.
Needless to say, their problems at both ends, especially at the back, are putting them in relegation danger. Only two sides that have conceded 24 or more goals in their first 10 games have stayed up: Southampton in 19/20 and Wolverhampton Wanderers in 24/25.
Recruitment did not strengthen Palace
A point must also be raised: their summer recruitment did them no favours. They had sold Marc Guehi earlier this year, in January.
During the summer, they sold Maxence Lacroix for £52M and Daniel Muñoz for £25M. Two big pieces of their spine last season were sold for big fees, which could have been used to rebuild their defence.
Axel Disasi, Chris Richards and Jefferson Lerma were the back three on Sunday afternoon, two of them defenders and one a midfielder, making a makeshift right-back due to no option currently available.
Disasi is on loan from Chelsea and is 18, while Richards is only 26. It is a young backline trying to fill the void left by a defence that conceded only 15 goals in the first ten games last season.
They failed to prepare for what has become their most vulnerable area. Their summer recruitment didn't make Palace any better; if anything, they hardly improved the team and rebuilt it.
Injury setbacks to Ismaila Sarr, Dean Henderson and Takehiro Tomiyasu add further pain, as did Jean-Philippe Mateta, whom they recently got back, only for him to serve a ban after being sent off with a red card against Tottenham Hotspur.
Barely any of the money they made on players was reinvested into the squad for the season ahead, which has put them in the position they are in now.
They made £110M on players sold and spent £71M on players in, but have barely created the impact Palace had hoped for at the start of the season.
History not on Pierre Sage's side
While there have been small improvements in their last two games, the results have just not been good enough, and that is what he will be outed for.
Reports have already surfaced that Palace are prepared to sack Sage, with the club sitting in the relegation zone. It wouldn't be the first time Palace have done this, and it benefited the club in the long term.
At the start of the 17/18 season, Frank De Boer failed to win any of his first five League games in charge and was sacked. Roy Hodgson came in and endured a tricky start, with his first win not coming until October, when he beat Chelsea 2-1.
Performance and results improved, despite a loss and a draw coming after their win against Chelsea.
It was after their 1-0 defeat to Spurs that they went eight games unbeaten, drawing five times and winning against Stoke City, Watford and Leicester City.
They finished 11th and avoided a relegation battle, winning their last five games of that season.
Palace will likely repeat that, sacking Sage and replacing him with a manager with more experience in the Premier League, with Thomas Frank the rumoured favourite to take over.
But whoever takes over this Palace side has a mighty task on their hands. Palace are currently a mess and beatable by any other team in the league.
The Opta expected points table has them one place above where they are in the League, as this team currently has to fight for survival and to extend its top-flight run for another season.
