Match Preview: Brighton v Crystal Palace – not the A23 Derby
Reading Brighton fans’ comments ahead of the visit of Crystal Palace to the Amex before putting together this match preview made us over here at WAB Towers think of one very famous line from the original Star Wars trilogy.
No, it was not, “I am your father”, although there is no doubt a joke that could be made about social activities in the Croydon area. Instead, it was when Luke Skywalker tells The Emperor, “Your overconfidence is your weakness.”
Because Albion supporters seem to be expecting an easy victory over the old enemy. You can kind of see the logic. Brighton are unbeaten in six and have only conceded once in that time.
Palace meanwhile lost 3-0 at home to Burnley last time out, pressure is mounting on Roy Hodgson and one of the Holmesdale Fanatics even borrowed their mother’s bedsheet, scrawled a message on it and hung it outside the training ground.
If there is one thing experience should teach us though, it is that things involving Brighton & Hove Albion rarely follow logic. Especially when Crystal Palace are also involved. Anything can happen when Seagulls and Eagles meet.
Take the last time Brighton fans were so confident coming into the fixture. After a 0-0 draw at Selhurst Park in the first leg of the Championship playoff semi final, the Albion were hot favourites to progress to Wembley by beating a Palace side they had finished above in the regular table.
90 minutes later and Brighton had lost 2-0, the Eagles were on their way to the Premier League and Gus Poyet, the man who had turned the Albion from League One relegation candidates to coming within two wins of the top flight, lost his job.
Three points against Palace would be the most pleasing result of Brighton’s recent upturn – but it is by no means guaranteed.
Crystal Palace this season
The 2020-21 season has been what you would call a typical Palace campaign and they will face Brighton in basically the same situation as we reported in the match preview when the Eagles last came to the Amex a year ago.
Palace are too good to go down but not good enough to finish in the top 10. It has been that way for the entirety of their current eight year stay in the Premier League and understandably, fans are a little bored of it now.
Where the current campaign differs is that an opportunity exists this summer to put in place changes that could push the Eagles onto the next level. Hodgson is out of contract and so are 12 first team players.
Palace have the chance to replace Hodgson with a younger, attack-minded boss. They can clear out a number of older players and replace them with fresh, exciting new talent, either bought from the Football League or abroad, or by promoting existing players from a thriving academy.
And all of it can be done at the same time as their owners putting in place a blueprint to explain how they can become an established top 10 side.
Essentially, Palace supporters want their club to become Brighton & Hove Albion. How quaint.
Recent form
Palace’s defeat against Burnley was particularly grim and came after a 2-0 defeat at The Leeds United five days earlier. The slightly concerning thing from an Albion point of view is that whenever large numbers of Palace fans are screaming “HODGSON OUT”, wily old Roy tends to pull out a result.
The Eagles were on a run of one win in 10 matches over December and January before back-to-back victories against Wolves and Newcastle United silenced the critics.
What better way would there be for Hodgson and his players to respond to recent anger – like the bedsheet outside the training ground – than by upping their game and ending Brighton’s best top flight run of form since 1981?
Brighton v Crystal Palace head-to-head
Brighton and Crystal Palace have met 144 times across 13 different competitions since the first clash between the sides in 1906. It was not until the 1970s that a rivalry developed though and despite what Sky Sports will try and tell you by calling it The A23 Derby, it has nothing to do with geography.
Both sides began climbing the divisions together from third tier to top flight between 1976 and 1979. Brighton manager Alan Mullery and Palace manager Terry Venables despised one another from their time as teammates at Spurs and regular crowd trouble meant that the fans of each club came to hate each other nearly as much as the figures in the dugout.
Palace have been the dominant side in the head-to-head, as you would expect given that they regularly finish above the Albion in the table. The Eagles have won 60 times compared to Brighton’s 50 with 34 draws.
Palace have scored 252 goals with Brighton netting 200, Alexis Mac Allister bringing up the double century with that timely last minute equaliser at Selhurst back in October.
Brighton & Hove Albion’s Head-to-Head record with Crystal Palace
Last six meetings
• Crystal Palace 1-1 Brighton (Premier League, 18/10/20)
• Brighton 0-1 Crystal Palace (Premier League, 29/02/20)
• Crystal Palace 1-1 Brighton (Premier League, 16/12/19)
• Crystal Palace 1-2 Brighton (Premier League, 09/03/19)
• Brighton 3-1 Crystal Palace (Premier League, 04/12/18)
• Crystal Palace 3-2 Brighton (Premier League, 14/04/18)
After the highs of completing a Premier League double over Palace in the 2018-19 season, this is the part of the match preview where we unfortunately have to remind you that Brighton are winless against the Eagles in the past three meetings.
That means that Graham Potter is yet to taste victory in the fixture. He may well have done had Brighton been clinical at Selhurst last time out with Neal Maupay in particular guilty of missing a couple of gilt-edged opportunities.
Palace had one shot on target that day from the softest penalty you will ever see awarded. It looked like that would secure an underserved win for the hosts right up until Mac Allister chose a very good moment to open his Albion account.
Team news
Hodgson said in his Brighton v Palace preview press conference that Wilfried Zaha would miss the trip to the Amex through injury. Personally, I will not believe it until it is 8pm, the teams are on the pitch and Zaha is nowhere to be seen in Sussex.
Should Zaha be absent, then that is massive for Brighton. He always seems to raise his game against the Albion. More importantly, Palace have failed to score in every match he has missed so far this season. They are the very definition of a one-man team.
Of course, if Zaha is missing then that gives Palace a ready-made excuse for losing to Brighton. The Albion though are not without injury problems of their own, particularly in defence with Tariq Lamptey and Adam Webster still in the treatment room.
Brighton’s performance last week in the 0-0 draw with Aston Villa was excellent. It seems unlikely that Vincente Guaita in the Palace goal will play anywhere near the level that Emiliano Martinez reached, so fingers crossed Potter has not found his Selection Roulette Wheel as the same starting XI deserve to play against the Eagles.
Crystal Palace’s danger men
Palace may be reliant on Zaha to an unhealthy degree, but they do have another excellent player with the ability to single handedly win games in 22-year-old Eberechi Eze.
Eze had been one of the standout talents in the Championship over the past few seasons with Queens Park Rangers. With bigger clubs sniffing around, it came as a bit of a surprise that it was Palace who picked him up and for a relatively cheap £20 million.
Albion supporters may be celebrating Zaha’s absence, but if Brighton’s players take their eyes off Eze then he has the ability to cause problems.
The betting value for Brighton v Crystal Palace
A quick glance through Brighton results at the Amex against sides like Palace in the bottom half of the Premier League table so far this season is pretty informative when it comes to match preview betting.
West Bromwich Albion – draw. Burnley – draw. Sheffield United – draw. Wolves – draw. Fulham – draw. Another home draw is available at a best priced 13/5.
The player card market has also proven a goldmine in Brighton versus Palace matches from years gone by, especially with Lewis Carl Dunk involved.
He is 10/3 to pick up a card of any colour – preferably yellow if you are reading this Lewis, rather than a straight red for a pointless, two-footed lunge on Gary Cahill in the 95th minute this time.
An interesting subplot
With such supporter unrest at Selhurst, there is the possibility that a Brighton win could actually bring about the end of Hodgson’s reign. Now, imagine this for a second – Palace sack Hodgson and take a risk on a manager who will instigate a new style of play, ala Frank De Boer.
Their second attempt at introducing a new philosophy is even more disastrous than De Boer’s ill-fated 77 days in charge and they end up getting relegated, as so many other teams who have swapped a solid boss in the hope of finding something better have done.
Brighton would then be indirectly responsible for Palace heading into the Championship. We can but dream, right?
A good WeAreBrighton.com memory of Crystal Palace at home
It will probably never get better than beating Palace 3-1 despite playing for over an hour with 10 men. The Glenn Murray penalty, the Shane Duffy headbutt, Leon Balogun scoring with his first touch and that Florin Andone goal.
Whenever anyone says that Brighton were always boring and negative under Chris Hughton in the Premier League, just refer them to that night at the Amex. Magical.
A bad WeAreBrighton.com memory of Crystal Palace at home
Losing at home to Palace because they are the better team is one thing; losing when you do not look like you care is quite another. That is what made last season’s 1-0 defeat to the Eagles so painful. Palace simply wanted it more.
The Albion were outfought by their arch rivals in the final match when a full capacity crowd could attend the Amex for over a year. Classic Brighton.
Crystal Palace’s most famous fan
You can tell the difference in class between Brighton and Palace when comparing celebrityy celebrity fans. The Albion can count Fatboy Slim among their number, one of the finest DJs in the world and a name known across earth.
Who do Palace have? 90s EastEnders character Nigel Bates, Jo Brand and the bloke who plays Jay in The Inbetweeners.
Prediction
Everything is pointing towards a Brighton win, but as we said right at the start of this preview, games with Palace are rarely that straightforward. A 1-1 draw.
