Crystal Palace welcome Brighton & Hove Albion to Selhurst Park as the M23 derby brings this weekend’s Premier League action to a conclusion in Monday Night Football.
Victory will see Palace move up to 12th in the standings, whereas Brighton can go top of the Premier League with a win after those above them slipped up this weekend.
Team News
Jeffrey Schlupp is set to return for Palace after recovering from a hamstring injury which kept him out of last weekend’s loss at Liverpool.
Eberechi Eze and Nathan Ferguson (both Achilles) remain absent.
Brighton could be without Alexis Mac Allister after the midfielder suffered a back injury in Wednesday’s Carabao Cup win over Swansea.
Enock Mwepu (groin) and Yves Bissouma (knee) missed that game but will be handed late fitness tests alongside Mac Allister.
Adam Webster remains ruled out until mid-October with a hamstring injury.
Stat Attack
- Palace have lost just two of eight previous Premier League meetings against Brighton (W3, D3, L2).
- Brighton have won just one of four previous Premier League visits to Selhurst Park (W1, D1, L2), although both teams have scored in all four modern top-flight clashes.
- Each of the last two meetings between Palace and Brighton at Selhurst Park have finished 1-1, with Wilfried Zaha scoring for the Eagles in both matches.
- No Palace player has had more touches on the ball in their opening five league matches than Tyrick Mitchell, who made 360 touches in five appearances.
- All three of Neal Maupay’s goals for Brighton this season have been scored on his right foot.
Prediction
After stunning Tottenham in their last home match, Palace will be disappointed with how they were outplayed at Liverpool last weekend because they did show great attacking intent, yet their poor end product cost them on top of momentary lapses in defending.
Brighton meanwhile just seemed to have found a real energy to their play because they looked confident and hungry in attack with strong pressing in their win against Leicester last weekend, yet were able to convert their attacking work rate into defending seamlessly as a close-knit team.
The pressure however is now going to be on Brighton here given that they have a huge unexpected chance to go top of the table, whereas Palace can play with little fear so I do expect a cracking contest but if Graham Potter’s Seagulls score first then I fancy then to go on and get a significant win.
Prediction: Crystal Palace 1-2 Brighton