5 April 2025
Crystal Palace 2 Brighton 1
A rivalry was renewed at Selhurst Park as Crystal Palace welcomed Brighton. The home fans were lauding it over the visitors, letting them know often that they are going to Wembley and The Seagulls’ aren’t. The Eagles are one of the form teams in the Premier League this calendar year.
It did not take long for the hosts to get into their groove. On a sunny day in the capital, Mateta opened the scoring after just three minutes. It was a superb finish from the Frenchman as he curled it into the top corner from just inside the box. Anyone bar Brighton fans will be pleased to see the striker get back to his previous form since that horror-challenge in the FA Cup that hospitalised him.
The Seagulls ventured forward for the first time when Baleba fired off a volley from outside the box. Henderson reacted well to make a stop but had to be straight back to his feet once again. At the second time of asking, he made an even more important block to the follow up from Welbeck when a goal seemed certain. Palace’s keeper had earned his weekly wage right there.
As Brighton came into the game more, they were finding pockets of space all over the park. Hinshelwood played it out wide to Minteh, who put a teasing cross into the box and Welbeck got a touch to send it into the far corner. It was no more than The Seagulls deserved after they weathered the early storm from the hosts.
As Brighton came into the game more, they were finding pockets of space all over the park. Hinshelwood played it out wide to Minteh, who put a teasing cross into the box and Welbeck got a touch to send it into the far corner. It was no more than The Seagulls deserved after they weathered the early storm from the hosts.
Palace were lucky when the referee made a real ‘clear and obvious error’. Mitoma beat Lacroix to the ball and the defender followed through to catch the Japanese winger. A free-kick was awarded to the hosts but had it been reviewed, it may have been a completely different outcome. Of course it would make too much sense for VAR to ensure the rules of the game are adhered to.
After the interval, The Eagles looked to counter with Eze. Brighton had committed too many upfield and were looking short at the back. The winger ran across the goal before laying it off to Munoz. He struck his shot into the far corner of the goal to give the hosts the lead once again. Cue the explosion of noise in Selhurst Park once again.
It had been quite a close encounter but at home, Palace just looked the more threatening coming forward. The visitors had created their fair share of chances but they may well point to the fact that Glasner’s side should have spent a long period of the game with only ten players. That said, if you are going to rely on the performances of officials as your tactic, that could be ill-advised.
As both sides were flying into the tackles, Guehi wiped out van Hecke with his follow through. It looked, as the replay showed, the Palace player just got a slight touch on the ball that saved him. It was becoming a fiery encounter in the capital. Moments later Nketiah was shown a yellow card for diving, trying to con the referee into a penalty. It is good to see action being taken in these instances.
Henderson then sent a long kick downfield. Nketiah tried to get his foot to it and caught van Hecke high towards the head of the defender. The striker was shown a straight red card and was given his marching orders. It meant that the hosts would play out the last twelve minutes of this game with a man disadvantage. Big chance for Brighton to get something out of this match.
Taylor then went a bit card crazy. Guehi made a rash challenge as he caught the Brighton player up on the thigh, resulting in being shown a second yellow card and subsequent red. Suddenly The Eagles were down to nine men. They still looked to get forward and Kamada beat van Hecke to the ball only for the Brighton man to bring him down and be shown the yellow/red combo as well.
Whoever had placed an in-play bet on three red cards in this game was jumping around the room in delight at this stage. All in the space of eighteen minutes at Selhurst Park. Crystal Palace held on for the victory and bragging rights over their rivals. Both sides came out of this game knowing they would be missing big players in their next games however.
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