Premier League | Gameweek 16

Dec 15, 2024 at 2pm UK

The American Express Community Stadium

Brightonvs.Crystal Palace

Match preview

Brighton go into the weekend on their longest winless run under Hurzeler, having now gone three games without a win and slipping to seventh in the table.

Failure to see off the teams at the bottom of the table could prove costly come May, as Hurzeler saw his side throw away two points in the last five minutes of last week's defeat at Leicester City.

Yankuba Minteh's goal 10 minutes from time looked to have sealed a comfortable three points on the road, but Jamie Vardy and Bobby Decordova-Reid both scored in the closing stages to salvage a point for the Foxes.

After drawing 1-1 at home to Southampton last time out, Brighton have now failed to win any of their last five games against teams in the bottom four.

Palace are another bottom-four side ahead of them, but Brighton have been largely consistent at home and are one of only three teams in the Premier League, along with Arsenal and Brentford, yet to suffer defeat on their own patch.

Keeping a clean sheet would go a long way towards ending their worrying run of results against weaker opposition, as despite their attacking prowess, they have now both scored and conceded in their last seven games, and have done so 37 times in 53 games since the start of last season.

As for Palace, the Seagulls have won back-to-back home games against the Eagles for the first time since the 1980s and will be confident of extending that run, especially after a 4-1 win in this fixture last season.

Palace are without a win in six against Brighton, but go into the game in a much better position than they were a few weeks ago, having moved out of the bottom three.

The teams in the relegation zone all lost last weekend, while Palace held champions Manchester City to a 2-2 draw to move four points clear.

Manager Oliver Glasner will have been frustrated to see his side twice take the lead and then fail to capitalise when City were reduced to 10 men in the closing stages.

However, the Eagles' midweek win over Ipswich Town was their most important result of the campaign, after they also held Aston Villa and Newcastle United to draws, meaning they have now lost just one of their last eight games in all competitions.

Away form often deserts Palace, but they head into the weekend unbeaten in three away from Selhurst Park and could be on course for back-to-back Premier League away wins for the first time since the 2022-23 season.

Recent Performance

Brighton & Hove Albion Premier League form:LWWDLD

Crystal Palace Premier League form:DLDDWD

Team News

Danny Welbeck could return to the starting line-up in place of Evan Ferguson after missing the defeat at Fulham through injury and playing just 20 minutes against Leicester last time out.

Hurzeler was reluctant to say whether most of his injury doubts would be fit to play, instead giving percentages of how likely most of them were to feature.

Joel Veltman was given a 50% chance; Ferdi Kadioglu 20%; Jack Hinshelwood 40% and James Milner just 10%, suggesting that potentially none of them will feature from the start here.

Palace should be able to welcome summer signing Chadi Riad back into the side in the coming weeks after he featured for the Under-21s a few days ago following three months out with a knee injury.

Joel Ward picked up a calf injury during the week and looks set to miss out, as does Matheus Franca, who will not return until 2025, but Adam Wharton is still in contention, although he faces serious doubts.

After a strong performance against Man City last weekend, there is little to suggest that Glasner will make any changes, so the Eagles could remain unchanged barring any late casualties.

Possible starting lineup

Brighton & Hove Albion possible starting lineup:

Verbruggen; Lamptey, Van Hecke, Dunk, Estupinan; Baleba, Ayari; Minteh, Joao Pedro, Mitoma; Welbeck

Crystal Palace possible starting lineup:

Henderson; Chalobah, Lacroix, Guehi; Munoz, Hughes, Lerma, Mitchell; Sarr, Mateta, Eze