Daniel Munoz scored the winner as nine-man Crystal Palace held on to edge out 10-man Brighton & Hove Albion in a dramatic match at Selhurst Park.
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The Colombian’s fourth Premier League goal of the season got the Eagles back to winning ways, following their 1-1 draw with bottom side Southampton in midweek.
Danny Welbeck cancelled out Jean-Philippe Mateta's brilliant opener, but Munoz regained the hosts' advantage inside 10 minutes of the restart.
Palace had to navigate a nervy 12 minutes of stoppage time after Eddie Nketiah and Marc Guehi were dismissed, but did so to record their sixth win in seven matches in all competitions.
Oliver Glasner’s side move up a place to 11th and four points off eighth-place Brighton, who also had Jan Paul van Hecke sent off in stoppage time and suffered only their second defeat in nine away games.
| Position Pos | Club | Played Pl | GD | Points Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4 |
Man City
MCI
|
34 | +23 | 61 |
| 5 |
Chelsea
CHE
|
34 | +19 | 60 |
| 6 |
Nott'm Forest
NFO
|
33 | +14 | 60 |
| 7 |
Aston Villa
AVL
|
34 | +5 | 57 |
| 8 |
Fulham
FUL
|
34 | +4 | 51 |
| 9 |
Brighton
BHA
|
34 | +1 | 51 |
| 10 |
Bournemouth
BOU
|
34 | +12 | 50 |
| 11 |
Brentford
BRE
|
33 | +6 | 46 |
How the match unfolded
Just three minutes had elapsed when Eberechi Eze found Mateta, who took the ball in his stride before beating Bart Verbruggen with an emphatic left-footed finish into the top corner.
Palace almost doubled their lead soon after when Eze's low shot was turned away by Verbruggen. At the other end, Dean Henderson produced a fine double-save to thwart Carlos Baleba's long-range attempt and Welbeck at the follow-up.
However, Welbeck was not to be denied in the 31st minute, the striker rounding off a neat move by the visitors by volleying home Yankuba Minteh's cross from close range. It was his 31st goal in the league for Brighton, overtaking Solly March to become the club's outright leading scorer in the competition.
The Eagles regained their lead 10 minutes into the second half. Eze led their charge on the counter before finding Munoz, who drilled a low shot across Verbruggen and into the far corner.
Palace were reduced to nine men late on when Nketiah and Guehi both received second yellow cards for high challenges on Van Hecke and Brajan Gruda respectively. Van Hecke was also given his marching orders for fouling Daichi Kamada, as the hosts held out for all three points.
Eagles back to winning ways
Although held by bottom side Southampton in midweek, Palace still arrived for this match on a six-game unbeaten streak in all competitions.
Mateta sounded a warning when he drilled wide from a tight angle in the second minute. However, Brighton failed to heed that warning and were behind fewer than 60 seconds later.
The striker found the net for a third successive Premier League home game, with what was Palace's quickest goal in the top flight this season at two minutes and 19 seconds.
Although they were pegged back by Welbeck’s goal, Palace began the second half in a similarly positive manner.
The Eagles were rewarded with Munoz’s fine strike eventually proving enough to seal all three points, and they maintained their discipline to see out the victory after substitute Nketiah and Guehi were sent off.
It was an important victory, too, with trips to Manchester City and Newcastle United next up for Glasner’s side, who also face AFC Bournemouth, Arsenal, Aston Villa and Nottingham Forest in their next six games.
Seagulls slump to successive defeats
Brighton have enjoyed far more success on the road this calendar year, with five wins from seven matches in all competitions.
Another victory here would have matched their tally for the whole of 2024.
Nevertheless, it is almost two years since the Seagulls enjoyed a Premier League victory in London, failing to do so in each of their last 11 attempts since a 3-0 win over Arsenal at Emirates Stadium in May 2023.
The early signs did not look good as Palace struck first, especially given their opponents had only lost once when scoring first in the Premier League this season.
They responded well and dragged themselves level as Welbeck applied the finishing touch to a fine move. However, it would ultimately prove a false dawn, with the Eagles not relinquishing their second lead.
Henderson denied Yasin Ayari in the dying seconds, but that is now back-to-back defeats for Fabian Hurzeler’s side, who were beaten 3-0 by Aston Villa on Wednesday.
They do have the chance to bounce back at home to Leicester City next weekend albeit without the suspended Van Hecke.
Club reports
Palace report | Brighton report
What the managers said
Oliver Glasner: "It's a huge win for us. This win is for our fans. We know how important it is for the fans. This derby had everything you love about football. It's not good for a manager! I'm pretty exhausted but it feels good.
Fabian Hurzeler: "It was very wild. We couldn't control it at the end. We weren't able to find right solution. The hunger was bigger from Palace. We made again a silly mistake and got the red card. We did too many easy mistakes. We weren't aggressive enough, the hunger wasn't there."
Next PL fixtures
Key facts
Palace became the first team in Premier League history to win a home game having received two red cards.
Brighton’s Welbeck scored his eighth Premier League goal of the season, while he also has four assists – only in 2011-12 for Manchester United has he had more goal involvements in a single campaign than his 12 in 2024-25.
Mateta (2) and Eze (10) have assisted each other to score 12 goals in the Premier League, the most of any Crystal Palace duo in the competition.
There were three red cards shown (2 for Crystal Palace, 1 for Brighton) in a Premier League game for the first time since April 2013 – Southampton (2) v West Brom (1).
