There are several English Premier League fixtures to look forward to on Sunday the 18th of October including the meeting between Crystal Palace and Brighton and Hove Albion. Known as the A23 derby and the M23 derby, the rivalry stemmed from the late 1970s and both teams will be determined to win this game.
Crystal Palace begin the weekend in 12th place on 6 points. They started this season with a 1-0 home victory against Southampton but there was better to come in their second game as they travelled to Old Trafford. Crystal Palace came away with a tremendous 3-1 victory over Manchester United and in truth, the scoreline could have been even better for the Eagles.
However, the following match at home against Everton ended in defeat. The Toffees took an early lead in the game but Crystal Palace found an equaliser in the 26th minute. The concession of a controversial penalty handed Everton the opportunity to retake the lead just before half time and the match finished 2-1 in favour of the visitors.
Prior to the international break, Crystal Palace made the short trip to Stamford Bridge to play Chelsea and were comfortably defeated 4-0. The Eagles put in a good first half performance but having conceded early in the second half Crystal Palace collapsed and allowed Chelsea 3 additional goals.
Trends show Crystal Palace have won only 2 of their last 13 games in all competitions. They have conceded 2 or more goals in 7 of their 10 most recent matches in the Premier League.
Brighton begin the weekend down in 15th place and have only 3 points to their name. They started the season with a 3-1 home defeat at the hands of Chelsea although the performance was promising. That led to an excellent 3-0 victory at Newcastle United, with two goals coming inside the first 7 minutes of the match.
Brighton put in another strong home performance in their third Premier League game of the season against Manchester United. However, having seemingly secured a point thanks to a late goal The Seagulls conceded a penalty to lose the match 3-2. Then came a difficult away fixture at Everton and Brighton were defeated 4-2, with the second goal coming as a late consolation in the 90th minute.
Trends show Brighton have drawn 5 of their last 10 away matches in all competitions. They have a good record of 9 undefeated games in their last 10 away encounters.
Team news and Crystal Palace are still without the injured trio of Gary Cahill, James Tomkins, and Patrick Van Aanholt in defence. Connor Wickham, James McCarthy, Jeffrey Schlupp, and Nathan Ferguson are doubtful.
Brighton travel without the injured duo of Christian Walton and Florin Andone. lireza Jahanbakhsh, Davy Pröpper, Jose Izquierdo, and Tariq Lamptey will all be assessed ahead of kick-off.
This should be a closely fought match with little to choose between the two teams. We expect to see both teams find the back of the net but the match could easily end level, with 1-1 being a possible correct score.