Oliver Glasner acknowledged Crystal Palace are "not going in the right direction" in the Premier League as his struggling side prepare to visit Nottingham Forest on Monday.
The Eagles sit in the relegation zone after going winless through their first seven league games before the October international break.
Glasner spent the pause for international football with his family in Austria, though struggled to "switch off" with his mind intent on atoning for Palace's drab start.
Palace were defeated 1-0 by high-flying Liverpool last time out in the competition, their fourth loss of the campaign, and an honest Glasner conceded change is needed.
"Regarding the results, no, we are not going in the right direction," Glasner said. "We wanted and expected a little bit more. Everything isn't so settled at the moment."
His message to Palace before their trip to the City Ground remains clear, however.
"Stick together, work hard and let's improve because then we can get the results," the Austrian added in a defiant pre-match rallying cry.
Forest, by contrast, have impressed through a difficult start to the season against high-quality opposition, managing a 1-1 draw away to Chelsea last time out despite James Ward Prowse's second-half dismissal.
Manager Nuno Espirito Santo will not be on the touchline against Palace, however, after being handed a three-game ban for "unacceptable behaviour" in the 2-2 draw with Brighton before the international break.
"It's tough. We're going to be in permanent contact and what is important is that we prepare well and the players are ready to compete," Nuno said of his absence.
"I'm surprised. It's a big sanction but there's nothing we can do. It's not for me to judge.
"My job is to move forward and make sure the coaching staff are ready to help the team. We had a hearing, everything was normal. The sanction has been decided. Let's go."
PLAYERS TO WATCH
Nottingham Forest – Chris Wood
Chris Wood has scored six of Forest’s last nine Premier League goals, and has 19 goals for them overall in the division.
The New Zealand international is looking to become just the third player to hit the 20-goal mark for Forest in the competition, after Bryan Roy (24) and Stan Collymore (22).
Crystal Palace – Eberechi Eze
Only Erling Haaland (35) and Antoine Semenyo (31) had more shots in the Premier League this season – before the October international break – than Eberechi Eze (27), who has struggled without Michael Olise.
Eze has just one goal in the competition for those efforts, though, with his 3.7% shot conversion rate leaving Glasner needing more from his star attacker.
MATCH PREDICTION – DRAW
Though Palace have struggled this campaign, a draw appears the most likely result with little to separate these two sides for Monday's clash.
Forest are winless in their last seven home matches across all competitions (D4 L3), their longest such run since October 2020 (also seven), with Nuno needing to find a solution.
A point apiece also seems probable considering five of the last six league meetings between this pair have ended in draws, including the last three matches in a row.
That run still leaves Forest unbeaten in their last seven league meetings with Palace (W2 D5), while the Eagles are winless in their 10 previous top-flight clashes with Monday's hosts.
Only considering Premier League clashes, Forest have never lost in eight outings against Palace (W3 D5) – both the most they’ve faced a side without losing and the most the Eagles have faced a team without winning in the competition.
OPTA WIN PROBABILITY
Nottingham Forest win – 38.6%
Draw – 27.8%
Crystal Palace win – 33.6%
Arsenal win first WSL match since Eidevall departure
Arsenal left it late but secured a 2-0 victory over West Ham in their first Women's Super League match since Jonas Eidevall resigned.
Interim boss Renee Slegers made it two wins from two in charge thanks to goals from Mariona Caldentey and Rosa Kafaji, despite the Gunners underwhelming for large parts of the game.
They eventually found a breakthrough with 20 minutes to play as Amber Tysiak brought down Stina Blackstenius in the box.
Caldentey neatly tucked away the spot-kick before Blackstenius created their second in the 89th minute as she picked out Kafaji, who finished first-time.
Slegers' first three points sees Arsenal go back to fifth, but West Ham are one of three teams still yet to win in the WSL so far this season as they prop up the table.
Elsewhere, Crystal Palace nearly pulled off another big shock but were instead held to a 1-1 draw by Liverpool.
The Eagles impressed at St Helen's Stadium as former Reds striker Katie Stengel opened the scoring after 14 minutes, prodding home from close range.
Cornelia Kapocs pulled the hosts level shortly before half-time, but they had to settle for a share of the points as both sides missed big chances for a winner in the second half.
Leicester City, meanwhile, claimed their first win of the season, edging past struggling Everton 1-0 thanks to Nicole Momiki's superb solo strike after just eight minutes.
It is the first victory for Amandine Miquel since joining the Foxes, while Everton sit 11th in the table, still searching for their first three points of the campaign.
Liverpool 2-1 Chelsea: Jones strikes Anfield winner for Slot's Reds
Liverpool returned to the top of the Premier League table as Curtis Jones hit the winner in an entertaining 2-1 victory over Chelsea at Anfield.
Having been knocked off the summit by Manchester City's last-gasp victory at Wolves earlier on Sunday, Liverpool responded by passing arguably their sternest test under Arne Slot.
Mohamed Salah's 29th-minute penalty broke the deadlock after Levi Colwill fouled Jones, just moments after the defender had survived an appeal for felling the the Egyptian.
Jones thought he had won a second penalty on the stroke of half-time following a challenge from Robert Sanchez, but a VAR review led referee John Brooks to overturn his initial decision to penalise the goalkeeper.
Another VAR intervention went Chelsea's way as they levelled three minutes into the second half. Nicolas Jackson was ruled offside when latching onto Moises Caicedo's throughball to slot home, but that decision was overturned as replays showed Ibrahima Konate played him on.
However, it was the impressive duo of Salah and Jones that combined for the decisive goal soon afterwards, the latter scoring on the stretch in front of the Kop.
The victory re-establishes Liverpool's one-point lead over City, while they are four clear of their next opponents Arsenal. Chelsea stay sixth, three points off the top four.
Data Debrief: Salah haunts Chelsea again
It is fair to say Salah has enjoyed coming up against Chelsea since returning to the Premier League in 2017, having been let go by the Blues one year earlier.
He has now scored five goals against Chelsea in the Premier League; the joint-most by a player to have previously appeared for them in the competition, along with Kevin De Bruyne (five).
It was his enticing cross that led to Jones' 51st-minute winner, too, and he has both scored and assisted in 34 different matches in the Premier League; the second-most of any player in the competition’s history, only behind Wayne Rooney (36).
Only Pep Guardiola (who won his first 10), meanwhile, has reached 10 wins in all competitions as a Premier League manager in fewer matches than Slot, who has won 10 of his first 11 as Reds boss.
'It did feel like a harsh one' - Wolves boss O'Neil rues Man City late winner
Gary O'Neil felt the awarding of Manchester City's stoppage-time winning goal was "harsh", as Wolves were denied a share of the spoils at Molineux.
The hosts had frustrated the reigning Premier League champions for long periods, and looked like they would claim only a morale-boosting second point of the season.
However, there was to be a dramatic twist in the fifth minute of stoppage time, with John Stones powering home a header from Phil Foden's corner to snatch all three points.
The goal was subjected to a VAR review after the referee's assistant initially raised his flag, with Bernardo Silva in an offside position and in close proximity to Jose Sa.
However, Chris Kavanagh subsequently ruled Silva was not interfering with the Wolves goalkeeper, and O'Neil questioned the inconsistency of such decisions.
"I am trying to remain calm," he said. "I have been involved in a few of those and not had many go in our favour, so I was expecting that outcome.
"There is some grey area that can go either way and, once it was like that, I wasn't confident it would go our way.
"It was similar to a goal [Wolves had disallowed] against West Ham last season. We sent an image to referees showing proof that the West Ham keeper could see the ball, but the reason we were given was the player was in close proximity.
"The same argument could be said here, but we just have to accept it. I would rather not discuss it because it will still sound like I am making excuses. Whatever decision they make, I respect. We don't want to cross that line, but it did feel like a harsh one."
Wolves replaced Southampton at the bottom of the Premier League table, and have now failed to win any of their opening eight league games in a season for the first time in 41 years.
But O'Neil believes his squad can build on the positives they demonstrated against City.
"I am proud of the players," he added. "[It was] an unbelievable effort and we gave ourselves a great chance. I am gutted for the players that we had to leave with nothing.
"The performance was excellent. I thought the lads gave absolutely everything. We kept finding the answers, and we conceded a controversial goal late on. The things that could go against us today definitely did, but we have to take positives.
"It's tough defending for so long, it is so hard to get out. They were working their socks off, they gave everything, they showed what they are, which is all I asked. We need to make sure it looks like that more often.
"It has been such a cruel run of fixtures. We need to keep standing up. We are where we are, and we need to make sure we keep producing the best of ourselves."
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