[Albion] Crystal Palace vs Brighton & Hove Albion *** Official Match Thread ***

[Dick Head]

Palace v Albion

PREMIER LEAGUE

Venue: Selhurst Park
Date: Thursday 21st December 2023
Kick-off: 20:00 GMT
Referee: John Brooks
Assistants: Lee Betts, Akil Howson
Fourth Official: Simon Hooper
VAR: David Coote
Additional VAR: Constantine Hatzidakis
​

TEAM NEWS

Crystal Palace captain Joel Ward faces a spell out with a hamstring injury sustained against Manchester City.

Jefferson Lerma missed that game with a similar issue but might feature, while manager Roy Hodgson must decide whether to start fit-again Eberechi Eze.

Brighton defender Joel Veltman could be out for up to two months because of a knee injury sustained against Arsenal.

Danny Welbeck made his return from a lengthy absence as a substitute in that match but is not yet ready to start.

MATCH FACTS

Head-to-head

• Each of the past four league fixtures between these teams at Selhurst Park ended in a 1-1 draw.
• Brighton's 1-0 home victory in the most recent meeting in March ended a seven-match Premier League winless run against Crystal Palace. Patrick Vieira was subsequently sacked as manager of the Eagles.
• Palace's only victory in eight top-flight home games versus Brighton was by 3-2 in April 2018.

Palace

• The Eagles have lost four consecutive Premier League home matches for the first time since a run of five from December 2016 to February 2017.
• They have already equalled last season's final tally of five home league defeats.
• Only three first-half goals have been scored in the eight Premier League games at Selhurst Park this season, one for Palace and two for the away side.
• Crystal Palace's solitary win in their past 10 league fixtures was 2-0 at Burnley on 4 November (D3, L6).
• Roy Hodgson's side are winless in all five of their midweek Premier League matches in 2023, drawing one and losing the other four without scoring.
• Jean-Philippe Mateta can become the first Palace player to score in three consecutive league appearances since Christian Benteke's run of four in May 2021.

Albion

• Brighton have won just two of their past 11 league matches, averaging a point per game (W2, D5, L4).
• Their club record run of scoring in 32 consecutive league fixtures was ended by last Sunday's 2-0 away defeat against Arsenal.
• Albion have now gone 21 successive league games without keeping a clean sheet, a new club record. They've conceded 38 goals during that period.
• Substitutes have scored 18 top-flight goals for the Seagulls this year, an unrivalled figure in Europe's five biggest leagues.
• Teenagers have made 99 Premier League appearances for Brighton in 2023, the most by a team in a calendar year.
• Evan Ferguson has scored 11 Premier League goals in 2023. The most recent teenager to score more often in a calendar year was Francis Jeffers, with 12 in 1999.

Roberto De Zerbi's Palace Press Conference

 

[Change at Barnham]

Roberto gets it.
I have faith.

 

[Mortdecai]

 

[JOLovegrove]

Is it too much to ask for a simple, 3-0 victory?

 

[Psychobilly freakout]

i Woke up early for a tinkle, let’s hope that’s a sign and we piss all over them.

 

[lizard]

i Woke up early for a tinkle, let’s hope that’s a sign and we piss all over them.

In that case, is it wrong that I kind of wish you'd woke up for a s**t?

 

[HastingsSeagull]

Hard to find the effort to stay awake for a 4am kickoff in Asia, but this is the fixture where it would be hard to sleep anyway.

 

[Kalimantan Gull]

Hard to find the effort to stay awake for a 4am kickoff in Asia, but this is the fixture where it would be hard to sleep anyway.

This is what alarm clocks are for

 

[Psychobilly freakout]

In that case, is it wrong that I kind of wish you'd woke up for a s**t?

Well actually, I woke up for a wee, and it turned into a poop

 

[Beach Hut]

So excited

 

[Greg Bobkin]

This next game could be season-defining.

 

[Tom Hark Preston Park]

It's got nil-all written all over it

 

[Guinness Boy]

This is a weird one for me. Normally this is my joint biggest game of the season along with Palace at home. But with us in Europe it doesn’t feel like that at all. Thousands of us in Amsterdam and the tension with their Ultras, Marseille at home, a must win game with a better atmosphere than most Palace games. Both bigger IMO.

And with it being Christmas and a Thursday night (boooo) it’s just sneaked up on me. I’m normally nervous for days. I’m not even nervous now.

That’s mostly because I’ve resigned myself to losing already. With no fullbacks fit and three of our best attackers long term benched we’re going to be scraping around for points in every game until February.

Hopefully the lads are up for it and I know RDZ gets it but Palace must be serious favourites.

 

[BBassic]

Veltman out for months?! Well, shit.

 

[deletebeepbeepbeep]

A penny for a fullback.

 

[Flounce]

I get the feeling January could be the make or break for how long RDZ remains here having seen his most recent comments.

 

[dwayne]

This is a weird one for me. Normally this is my joint biggest game of the season along with Palace at home. But with us in Europe it doesn’t feel like that at all. Thousands of us in Amsterdam and the tension with their Ultras, Marseille at home, a must win game with a better atmosphere than most Palace games. Both bigger IMO.

And with it being Christmas and a Thursday night (boooo) it’s just sneaked up on me. I’m normally nervous for days. I’m not even nervous now.

That’s mostly because I’ve resigned myself to losing already. With no fullbacks fit and three of our best attackers long term benched we’re going to be scraping around for points in every game until February.

Hopefully the lads are up for it and I know RDZ gets it but Palace must be serious favourites.

Bookies have us as fairly strong favourites

 

[Perfidious Albion]

Well, it is a derby match with fierce rivalry … We are still strong enough to beat them since they are winless since who-knows-when. Will we do so? That’s a different question. I feel good about this but no predictions here . At least our nemesis, Mr Z has gone on to pastures new…

 

[Albion my Albion]

Is it too much to ask for a simple, 3-0 victory?

Yes, we don't seem to appreciate clean sheets.

When's the last time you washed yours?

 

[Terry Connor]

Not going to be there tonight, first time in a long time for this fixture. Pangs of regret, but confident the boys can do the job. They will sit back and try and do us on the break.