FRANK de Boer has been sacked by Crystal Palace after only four Premier League matches in charge.

The club have acted after the Dutchman oversaw four top-flight defeats from the start of the season, making them the first team in England's top division to do so without scoring since Preston 93 years ago.

Chris Wood's third minute goal gave Burnley a 1-0 win over Palace on Sunday and that proved to the final game in charge for de Boer.

Former England manager Roy Hodgson is the favourite to succeed de Boer.

A club statement read: "Crystal Palace Football Club have this morning parted company with Frank de Boer.

"We would like to thank Frank for his dedication and hard work during his time at the club.

"A new manager will be appointed in due course and we wish Frank the very best of luck for the future.

"There will be no further comment at this time."

Despite an improved performance in Sunday's 1-0 defeat at Burnley, whose goal was gifted to Chris Wood after an awful back-pass from Lee Chung-yong, Palace felt a new appointment was needed ahead of a difficult run of fixtures.

On Saturday they host Southampton before league games against Manchester City, Manchester United and Chelsea in the coming weeks. De Boer had overseen losses to Huddersfield, Liverpool and Swansea prior to the latest setback at Turf Moor. De Boer's only competitive win came against Ipswich in the Carabao Cup.

His departure from the club follows a similarly short stint at Inter Milan, who sacked him only 85 days after his appointment.