Match Preview: Crystal Palace v Brighton
When Brighton and Hove Albion famously beat Crystal Palace at the Amex back in December with only 10 men, it seemed like the two clubs were heading in different trajectories.
For the Albion, the sky was the limit. Chris Hughton’s side were nine points above their great rivals and 12 clear of relegation. The Championship wasn’t our concern, cracking the top 10 of the Premier League now was. Palace meanwhile had given a spineless performance which left them just three points above the drop zone and, based on that showing, facing the very real threat of going down.
Fast forward three months and the roles have been reversed. Brighton have won just twice in the league since that night while the Eagles’ shocking performance gave them the kick up the arse they needed, Roy Hodgson’s side winning six of their subsequent 14 Premier League fixtures.
As a result, Palace come into derby day in the better form and higher in the table. If Brighton are to secure a first double over the Eagles for 35 years, then they’re going to have to upset the form book and the placings.
Who are Crystal Palace?
Crystal Palace were founded in 1905 in order to bring football to the stadium housed at the Crystal Palace Exhibition building. The ground was already hosting FA Cup finals by this point, but the owners felt that a new team playing regularly would bring people and prestige to the area. Don’t blame them, they weren’t to know that their idea would spawn a ghastly club. When the Crystal Palace was requisitioned during World War I, the Eagles lived a nomadic existence before settling into Selhurst Park in 1924. They won their first promotion to the top flight in 1969 and have spent the majority of past 50 years bouncing between the top two divisions, including a couple of spells in administration for gross financial mismanagement.
What are they like now?
Palace are currently in their sixth successive season in the Premier League after winning promotion in circumstances that we don’t like to talk about. Each campaign has followed a relatively similar pattern whereby they begin terribly, sack their manager and then the new bloke leads them miles away from relegation and sometimes even into the top half of the table. It’s been a similar story in this campaign although they haven’t pulled the trigger on the likeable Roy Hodgson, instead giving him time to turn things around which he duly has done. We’ve already mentioned their recent form which has pushed them to the brink of the top half and they are also still in the FA Cup with a quarter final date to come with Watford next week. If Brighton beat Millwall in their own last eight tie, I think we can all see who is going to be facing off for a place in the final.
Which players should we be worried about?
When he’s not busy trying to earn a spot on the British Olympic diving team, Wilfried Zaha is as dangerous as any other player outside of the Premier League’s big six. We’ve seen that before when Palace won promotion in circumstances that we don’t like to talk about and on our previous visit to Selhurst when he pretty much single handedly ended Ezequiel Schelotto’s Albion career by giving him post traumatic stress disorder. Another name to be concerned with is Michy Batshuayi, whose arrival on loan drew much scorn from Brighton fans wondering why anybody would agree to pay the rumoured £160,000 a week wages of a bloke who was only going to play for their club for six months. Well, with two goals in five league appearances, Batshuayi is already Palace’s joint-third top scorer for the season and if his goals fire them to the top 10 and a day out at Wembley, that will look like money well spent.
What’s the Albion’s record against Crystal Palace like?
There have been 140 previous meetings between the Albion and Palace and it is the Eagles who lead the way with 59 wins to Brighton’s 49. Take out the anomaly that was wartime football though and the head-to-head suddenly becomes much more even. In 106 Football League and it’s associated cup competitions games, both teams have won 41 times. That’s quite remarkable given how we are constantly told that Palace have always been the better club; which is bollocks, frankly.
What’s the best WeAreBrighton.com memory of Crystal Palace away?
Well, we’ve only won at Selhurst Park once in a generation. That came in the 2005-06 season, when there was arguably the biggest gap in terms of playing quality between the two. Palace would go onto finish in the play off places while Mark McGhee’s side finished stone dead bottom with just five wins all season, one of which came away at Palace on October 18th thanks to Paul McShane’s 79th minute header. There are probably people out there with bruises still on their knees as bodies and limbs went flying when that one hit the back of the net.
What’s the worst WeAreBrighton.com memory of Crystal Palace away?
Waiting 13 years to play Palace and then promptly losing 5-0 was pretty bad, not least for Paul Brooker who got sent off for making only the second tackle of his career. But the 3-0 defeat under Gus Poyet in December 2012 was worse. Public enemy number one Glenn Murray came back to haunt Poyet for not offering him an extra fiver a week by scoring twice, Lewis Dunk got sent off and then to top things off nicely, one member of the WeAreBrighton.com team was very sick in the disabled toilet during the second half after an unadvised third Carlsberg consumed in an attempt to block out the horror show that was occurring on the pitch.
Who’s played for both sides?
Murray quite famously went to Palace because a Brighton manager didn’t think he was good enough and then ended up coming back to Brighton because a Palace manager didn’t think he was good enough. He isn’t the only man to yo-yo between Sussex and Croydon with Gary O’Reilly having the done the same thing in the late 80’s and early 90’s. A Palace striker also played a criminally underrated role in the Great Escape of 2008-09 with Calvin Andrew scoring some vital goals for Russell Slade’s side during the run in.
Other than football, what is Crystal Palace famous for?
The whole area is named after the huge exhibition centre which also gave birth to the football club. Originally standing in Hyde Park and host to the Great Exhibition of 1851, the Crystal Palace was moved to Sydenham Hill in 1854 where it stood for another 82 years until it was destroyed by fire in 1936. You stupid bastards, you burnt down your palace.
Where’s the betting value for Crystal Palace v Brighton?
You should never bet with your heart, which is what makes gambling on games against Palace such a wrench. Withthe contrasting forms of both sides in 2019, it is little wonder that the hosts are odds on favourites. Given the absolute chaos that has taken place in the last three meetings with goals galore, it might pay to look at both teams to score at 21/20 and over 3.5 goals at 16/5. In terms of players, Zaha looks good value as an anytime scorer at 2/1 while we’d also advise betting on Murray to score as he has three in his past three appearances against Palace. He’s 13/5 anytime.
Prediction
Palace surely can’t be anywhere near as bad as they were at the Amex whilst the Albion surely can’t be anywhere near as bad as they were at Selhurst last season. With that in mind, a 2-2 draw. Hopefully.
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