15 December 2024
Brighton 1 Crystal Palace 3
It was the unofficial derby on the south coast as The Seagulls welcomed The Eagles to town. Maybe it should be renamed ‘the avian derby’. Oliver Glasner’s side had not found this to be happy hunting ground for them in the past, they could really do with changing that if they had any hope of moving further away from the bottom three.
Mitoma has been in fine form this season and is a constant threat for sides facing Brighton. The Japanese winger brought the first save from Henderson as he drilled a fierce shot in from a tight angle. The Palace keeper opted to save with his feet but as long as he kept it out, that was all that mattered to the visitors at this early stage.
The Seagulls’ midfield were allowing Eze far too much space in the middle of the park. His pass found Mateta but his shot was deflected wide for a corner. Crystal Palace started to ask some questions of the hosts and as they failed to deal with a cross into the box, it dropped to Chalobah just yards from goal. The defender smashed it into the back of the net to give The Eagles the lead.
The Amex Stadium was somewhat stunned. This was not the way this game was supposed to go. On paper this was a routine win for Fabien Hurzeler’s side. Sadly, the Premier League does not play that way and there is no such thing as an easy game. If Brighton were going to take all three points, they were going to have to do it the hard way.
Palace could have doubled their lead when Munoz had a chance at the far post. Verbruggen was equal to it as he kept his side in the game. Moments later a deep cross into the box was headed home by Sarr. Brighton seemed static in defence and were just watching this game unravel in front of them. The visitors went in at the break with a two-goal cushion.
Whatever the manager said at the interval seemed to hit home with the Brighton players. They stepped it up a couple of gears and looked to impose their own game on the visitors. Mitoma and Joao Pedro combined but the shot from the winger was cleared by the defender. Had he not reacted, it certainly seemed to be heading in.
The Seagulls are often a danger from set pieces. As a corner came in, Dunk met it with a thunderous header but Henderson did brilliantly to beat it away. Palace were having to withstand a barrage of attacks from the hosts. The only question at this point was just how long The Eagles were going to be able to keep them out.
Enciso shot from outside the box and Henderson needed to make another fingertip save to deny Brighton. The longer the game went on with the visitors’ clean sheet intact, the more frustrated The Seagulls were becoming, as were their fans. No matter what they threw at Palace, they just could not breach their defence to give themselves a lifeline in the game.
This looked a completely different Crystal Palace to the one we had seen for the majority of the season. There seemed to be belief in their ability to cause problems for their opponents. Not the usual backs to the wall stuff we have been witness to. Whatever Oliver Glasner has done to spark this revival, he need not change a thing moving forward.
Based on this performance alone, his Palace team seemed to have too much to get involved in a relegation battle this season. There are far too many teams who look out of their depth and not as comfortable as the visitors looked in this game. After all, they were playing a Brighton team who had European qualification on their to-do list for the campaign.
However, that may just be a flight of fantasy if they defend like they did in this game. The visitors thought they had added another when Sarr scored but it was ruled out by VAR for a foul on the defender in the build-up. The former Watford winger was not to be denied and moments later had his second goal of the game.
Nketiah played him in and he calmly slotted past Verbruggen to ensure The Eagles would be travelling back home with all three points. It certainly made the trip from the capital worthwhile for their fans. It was only their third win of the season, which is why they have been dragged into the fight to stay out of the bottom three.
Not that it could dampen the mood for The Eagles. They held on for their victory and headed back to London with a newfound confidence that they have what it takes to secure Premier League safety this season. It also took some of the pressure off Oliver Glasner, in a results orientated business, poor runs can cost you your job.
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