Monday’s play-off final at Wembley will be the climax of a season of highs and lows for Crystal Palace. Here we chart their road to the game billed as the most valuable in world football.
August
Three straight defeats at the start of the season to Watford, Bristol City and Middlesborough, as well as a first round exit to Preston in the League Cup, have fans calling for manager Dougie Freedman to be sacked.
September 1-October 20
The signings of Yannick Bolasie and Damian Delaney and the return of Glenn Murray from injury help Freedman orchestrate an impressive turnaround in fortunes as the Eagles go from the bottom of the table to the top six with six wins and two draws from eight games.
October 23
Freedman leaves to join Bolton Wanderers, angering supporters, having said a few days previously that he did not want to leave the job he was doing at Crystal Palace unfinished.
November
Ian Holloway is named as the new manager, joining from Blackpool on November 3. He watches from the stands as Palace beat Blackburn 2-0 and then, in his first game, defeat Ipswich Town 5-0 to go top. They stay there for three games before their 14-match unbeaten run is ended by a 2-1 loss at Leeds United.
December
Glenn Murray passes the 20-goal mark in just 19 games but three straight draws see Palace fall out of the automatic promotion places.
March 5
Kevin Phillips scores a hat-trick in a 4-2 win over promotion rivals Hull City. It was a fifth win in seven games and had Palace just two points off the top two.
March 9 - April 30
A run of nine games without a win sees Palace out of automatic promotion contention and facing a battle to stay in the play-off places.
May 4
A late Mile Jedinak header ends the winless run as Palace get a 3-2 win over Peterborough on the last day of the season to finish fifth and guarantee a play-off semi-final with Brighton.
Play-off semi-finals
After a 0-0 draw at home in the first leg, Palace go to Brighton as underdogs but two Wilfried Zaha goals give them a 2-0 win and a place at Wembley to face Watford.
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