Match Preview: Crystal Palace v Brighton

Here we go again. The 142nd instalment of Crystal Palace v Brighton takes place at Selhurst Park, giving Albion fans the opportunity to sample the delights of Croydon on a Monday night.

Last season obviously went pretty well from a Brighton point of view. Six points out of six from our friends up the road, and then they had the decency to go and beat Cardiff City on the penultimate weekend of the campaign to relegate the Bluebirds and keep the Seagulls in the Premier League.

In those two derby day fixtures, Palace were woeful. They had no fight or bottle. The only action of note involving Wilfried Zaha was when somebody lobbed a chicken and gammon pie at him in the most middle class bit of football hooliganism you’re ever likely to see.

Surely, Palace can’t be that bad this time around? Judging on their season so far, they won’t be. A tough night lies in store for Graham Potter and his players.

A brief history of Crystal Palace
Crystal Palace were formed in 1905 and lived a nomadic existence in their early years, moving from the Crystal Palace Exhibition Building after which they were named to the Herne Hill Velodrome and then a ground called the Nest. They eventually settled at Selhurst Park in 1924, just four years after they joined the Football League.

Palace’s time in the league system has mostly been spent in the top two divisions with the late 80s and early 90s being their golden age. Powered by the goals of Mark Bright and ex-Albion trialist Ian Wright, they reached the FA Cup Final in 1990 and finished third in the top flight a year later.

When Wright and Bright departed, Palace’s fortunes began to decline. Since those heady days, they’ve had two spells in administration, including one where Eagles supporters had to crowdfund £16,000 to pay a St John Ambulance bill which the club were unable to afford. Classy.

That was in 2010. Three years later and Palace reached the Premier League after an eight year absence in circumstances that we refuse to talk about. They’ve remained in the top flight ever since.

Crystal Palace this season
Palace’s season normally follows a familiar pattern. They begin the campaign shockingly and look like a near-certainty for relegation. They then pull themselves together after a few months, sometimes via a change of manager, and then end up miles clear of the drop zone to finish comfortably in mid table.

Well, not this time around. Despite the fact that they made no notable summer signings, sold one of their prize possessions in Aaron Wan-Bissaka and saw Zaha hand in a transfer request to try and force through a move, Palace are flying. They’ve been flirting with the top six in what is admittedly a ridiculously tight table at this moment in time.

Which begs the question – what’s going to happen in the second half of the season? If they have their normal improvement, Roy Hodgson could lead them to their highest finish in years. Fingers crossed though that things are just happening in reverse in 2019-20 and this time around, it’s a good start followed by a dreadful end. After all, we’ve finished above Palace just twice in 30 years, so it would be nice to put that right come May.

Head-to-head
It’s a close-run thing. Palace have won 59 of the 141 previous meetings, Brighton 50 with 32 draws. When you take out our 20 fixtures in the Southern League during the 1910s and 1920s and the 14 clashes during Wartime football, then the Albion actually lead the head-to-head with 42 wins to Palace’s 41.

Brighton’s head-to-head record with Crystal Palace

Last six meetings
• 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
• Brighton 2-1 Crystal Palace (FA Cup Third Round, 08/01/18)
• Brighton 0-0 Crystal Palace (Premier League, 28/11/17)
• Championship Play Off Second Leg which never happened

It’s the Albion that have had the better of the fixture since our promotion to the top flight in 2017. Palace have won only one of the subsequent five meetings, Chris Hughton’s back four typically choosing the trip to Selhurst to be the one day in the entire 2017-18 campaign that they’d perform like a set of circus clowns.

Team news
Potter has a bit of a problem to solve in the middle of the park with Dale Stephens suspended. Stephens has been the beating heart of Potterball so far this season, breaking up play in front of the defence as well as being encouraged to use all his creative talents to get the Albion quickly onto the front foot – something we rarely saw under Hughton.

How do you replace someone that important? The obvious would be to move Steve Alzate into midfield and bring Martin Montoya back in at right back. Aaron Mooy could potentially play a little deeper – but that could make the shiny bonced Australian less effective going forward – or Yves Bissouma could come in for what would be his second start of the season.

Other than the Stephens conundrum and Solly March’s absence after groin surgery, Potter has a full squad to choose from.

Crystal Palace’s key players
Zaha is the obvious one although their are rumours that he won’t make the game because of injury. This would be a big boost to Brighton in two ways. The first obviously being because he’s very good; the second being that it lessens the risk of Potter playing his favoured 4-2-2-2 formation.

We’ve seen in the past that quality wingers can thrive when they come up against our full backs who have no real support due to the narrowness of the midfield. Zaha and Andros Townsend could have a field day in that regard, so for Palace to be missing one of their two wide players would be a big boost to the Albion.

Aside from Zaha, Vincente Guaita has proven to be an excellent acquisition in goal after Palace finally realised that Wayne Hennessey couldn’t catch a cold. Elsewhere, a lot of Palace’s fine form this season can be put down to the shrewd signing of Gary Cahill. He may be getting on in years, but the former Chelsea defender still has all the tools of a top class centre back.

A good WeAreBrighton.com memory of Crystal Palace away
We’ve only ever seen the Albion win twice away at Palace and however good last season’s 2-1 success was, it still couldn’t top the night in 2005 when Paul McShane wrote himself into Brighton history with that famous header.

Why was it better? Because nobody expected an Albion win. Palace were gunning for promotion with England forward Andy Johnson in their squad. We meanwhile were using Gary Hart at right back, Paul Reid at left back and had a strike partnership of Leon Knight and Jake Robinson which made Frodo Baggins and Samwise Gamgee look like a pair of giants.

For Mark McGhee to mastermind victory at Selhurst that night was nothing short of a miracle. Which was just as well given that the rest of the 2005-06 season was complete and utter shit.

A bad WeAreBrighton.com memory of Crystal Palace away?
Speaking of complete and utter shit, our first experience of Brighton v Palace came at Selhurst Park in 2002. It was classic Brighton – you wait 23 years to face your arch rivals in a league game. And then you go and lose 5-0.

Our favourite player to play for Brighton and Crystal Palace
Sir Glenn. Who else?

What we like about Crystal Palace
The Crystal Palace was actually a wonderful piece of Victoria architecture. A glass palace which was originally built in Hyde Park to house The Great Exhibition of 1851, it was then relocated to South London where it remained until 1936 when it was destroyed by fire. Hardly a surprise given the locals liking for burning stuff down.

Prediction
As we’ve already said, we’re utterly convinced that Palace cannot be as woeful as they were in our meetings last season. An entertaining 2-2 draw.