First-half blitz sees Brighton demolish Crystal Palace at home
Prior to kick-off, Roberto De Zerbi may well have challenged his players to start positively after seeing them concede twice inside the opening three minutes of Tuesday’s heavy 4-0 defeat to Luton Town.
Either way, the Brighton boss will have been delighted to see Lewis Dunk rise high and head home from Pascal Groß’s corner in the third minute of the contest.
After falling behind, Palace received another setback when Marc Guéhi was forced off just before the half-hour mark, resulting in a debut for deadline-day signing Adam Wharton.
The Eagles had little time to adjust to the personnel change, though, as the hosts took the game out of their reach with two quick-fire goals.
First, Tariq Lamptey stood the ball up to the far post for Jack Hinshelwood to angle his header beyond the helpless Dean Henderson.
Just moments later, the Palace goalkeeper was picking the ball out of his net again after Wharton was punished for losing possession inside his own half.
The rampant hosts quickly worked the ball to Facundo Buonanotte, who produced a clinical left-foot strike to effectively wrap up all three points before HT.
Palace experienced more misery when half-time substitute Michael Olise had to be withdrawn in the early stages of the second period due to an injury issue.
The travelling fans did at least have a goal to celebrate in the 71st minute when Jean-Philippe Mateta powered home a header from Joachim Andersen’s whipped cross.
However, the Seagulls quickly regained their composure to restore their three-goal advantage through João Pedro.
The Brazilian combined superbly with Danny Welbeck to create the space to slot past Henderson and round off a memorable team performance.
Not only did they claim derby bragging rights, but the Seagulls climbed a couple of places to seventh position.
As for 14th-placed Palace, they will finish the day just five points clear of the drop zone after suffering a third consecutive away defeat in the league.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Lewis Dunk (Brighton & Hove Albion)
