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Mancini new favourite for Palace manager berth

FORMER Manchester City manager Roberto Mancini was the early punters’ pick to move into the Crystal Palace hotseat yesterday following the announcement of Sam Allardyce’s decision to leave the club.

But the move to back the Italian, cut from 20-1 to 5-2, seemed to be based on nothing more than the fact that he is a plausible contender at this stage known to be receptive to a move back to English football.

Mancini has been out of work since leaving Inter in August 2016, and Palace chairman Steve Parish could well be prepared to come up with the money to lure him to south London.

Marco Silva is next in the betting at 9-2 although the Hull manager is being more heavily linked to a move to Porto, while 6-1 shot Claudio Ranieri is also 3-1 favourite for the Watford job.

Further down the betting former Palace favourite Chris Coleman is a 16-1 shot with bet365.

Coleman, who made 190 appearances for the Eagles from 1991 to 1995, was reportedly sounded out by Palace in 2013 and after Alan Pardew’s departure in December but wanted to stay on as Wales manager through their 2018 World Cup qualifying campaign. They have four matches left to play after next month’s trip to Serbia.

Palace have made no official comment yet about their intentions or a time frame for making a new appointment, although the club are expected to travel to Hong Kong in mid-July, where the Eagles will join Liverpool, West Brom and Leicester in the 2017 Premier League Asia Trophy.

Former Leverkusen manager Roger Schmidt remained at the top of the betting to take over at Watford but was eased slightly from 11-4 to 7-2 while Aberdeen boss Derek McInnes is the clear favourite to take the reins at Sunderland.

McInnes’s Dons side are preparing for Saturday’s William Hill Scottish Cup final against Celtic having achieved their third successive second-place finish in the Ladbrokes Premier League. Celtic are 3-10 favourites to deny the Dons and lift the trophy to seal a domestic treble.

Chelsea are 2-5 favourites to complete a domestic double with success in Saturday’s FA Cup final against Arsenal. The Gunners will be without defenders Gabriel Paulista (knee) and Laurent Koscielny (suspended) while Shkodran Mustafi missed training yesterday due to concussion. They are 21-10 to capture the trophy for the third time in four years.

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