Brighton & Hove Albion welcome Crystal Palace to AMEX Stadium in a rearranged Premier League clash.
Victory would see Brighton stay seventh but move level on goal difference with sixth-placed Liverpool – who have played two games more than the Seagulls coming into this match.
Palace meanwhile will stay 12th with a win but move six points clear of the relegation zone.
Team News
Adam Webster is set to be available for Brighton despite being substituted late on in their 2-2 draw at Leeds, having suffered a hamstring injury in the 88th minute.
Tariq Lamptey (knee) could return if he is declared match fit by club doctors.
Billy Gilmour (muscle), Adam Lallana (hamstring) and Jakob Moder (knee) remain absent.
Crystal Palace will welcome midfielder, Cheick Doucoure back into contention after he was suspended for their defeat at home to Manchester City.
Will Hughes (illness) and Nathan Ferguson (fitness) are doubtful but James McArthur (knock) is ruled out.
Sam Johnstone remains absent with a calf injury.
When is Kick-Off?
Brighton welcome Crystal Palace to the AMEX Stadium on Wednesday 15 March in a 7:30pm GMT kick-off.
This fixture won’t be televised live in the UK due to originally not being chosen for live coverage prior to being postponed in September, due to rail strikes which were later postponed due to preparations for the Funer of Queen Elizabeth II.
Stat Attack
- Brighton are winless in their last seven meetings against Crystal Palace (D5, L2).
- Palace have won two of five previous Premier League visits to Brighton (W2, D2, L1).
- Five of Brighton’s six draws against Palace in the Premier League have ended in 1-1 result.
- Brighton have conceded just one goal in four league matches at home in 2023 (W3, L1), which came in a 1-0 loss to Fulham in February.
- Palace have kept just two clean sheets in 11 matches in all competitions in 2023 (D5, L6).
Prediction
With three games in hand on their immediate rivals for a top-four finish, Brighton know that winning their games in hand will be crucial to their hopes of European qualification starting with this M23 derby against Palace.
Roberto De Zerbi’s Seagulls though do immediately need to channel their anger from Saturday’s 2-2 draw at Leeds into a strong result, having twice led an one-goal lead slip through sloppy defensive errors despite delivering their usual aggressive attack up front.
Palace though were defensively excellent against Man City until a late penalty cost them a draw, yet they didn’t really offer much quality up front so I do expect them to come out and show more intensity on the attack.
Brighton though have hit a run of inconsistency results wise in their last six league games but I do expect them to win this game, simply because Palace seem to lack a sharp end product at present whereas De Zerbi’s Seagulls has the confidence up front despite their defensive sloppiness.
Prediction: Brighton 2-1 Crystal Palace
Result: Brighton 1-0 Crystal Palace
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