Crystal Palace v Brighton: 'El Gatwicko' beckons for M23 rivals
The sides meet in markedly different form, displayed by the Eagles’ five-game winless Premier League (PL) run (D2, L3) which was bookended by a 2-1 defeat to Manchester United last time out.
Only once in manager Patrick Vieira’s reign have Palace gone more PL games without a win (six) and they need to improve quickly if they’re to avoid drop-zone drama this season.
Their situation isn’t aided by the continued absence of Eagles’ talisman Wilfried Zaha, but it’s arguably a leaky defence which is behind their rut, with only bottom-placed Southampton (17) conceding more PL home goals than the London side (16).
Their visitors are having no such issues and have forced their way into the PL top-six after a dramatic 1-0 win over Bournemouth despite notable absentees.
It looked near certain that the Seagulls would blank in front of goal for the first time in ten PL games (W6, D1, L3) but their late winner kept the good times rolling and saw Opta (ahead of the round) give them a 9.3% chance of finishing fourth this season.
That’s impressive considering they’ve only had current manager Roberto de Zerbi for 14 PL games (W6, D3, L5), but he’s taken over almost seamlessly to lead Brighton to their best top-flight points total (34) at this stage in their history!
They’re flying alright, and three wins from their last four league away games (D1), whilst scoring a whopping 12 goals in the process, means they look likely to threaten an Eagles side struggling for lift-off.
Players to watch: Palace may rely again on ‘keeper Vicente Guaita who hasn’t lost in his last five appearances against the Seagulls (W2, D3). He may have his hands full against Brighton’s joint-top scorer Kaoru Mitoma however, with the forward striking in three consecutive games, the last two arriving after 86 minutes!
Hot stat: Only Manchester United (nine) have scored more PL goals than Brighton (eight) after the 75th minute this season.
