Brighton v Crystal Palace: Premier League – live! | Football

Brighton (4-2-3-1) Ryan; Montoya, Dunk, Webster, Burn; Propper, Bissouma; March, Mooy, Trossard; Maupay.
Substitutes: Button, Schelotto, Stephens, Gross, Jahanbakhsh, Murray, Alzate.

Crystal Palace (4-1-4-1) Guaita; Ward, Dann, Cahill, van Aanholt; McCarthy; Ayew, Kouyate, McArthur, Zaha; Benteke.
Substitutes: Hennessey, Kelly, Milivojevic, Meyer, Townsend, Riedewald, Tosun.

Referee Martin Atkinson.

Hello and welcome to live coverage of Brighton v Crystal Palace from the Amex Stadium. These two have developed an unlikely rivalry in the last 44 years, one fuelled fuelled by boiling coffee, loose change, loose talk and even looser bowels (it was the coach driver, by the way).

A fixture that was dormant for a long time has been revived in the last decade by Brighton’s improvement. There was the in/famous Championship play-off semi-final of 2013, won by Palace. Brighton were eventually promoted to the Premier League four years later, which has meant regular top-flight meetings between the teams for the first time since Crystal Palace’s Team of the Eighties were relegated in 1981. (By the way, if you haven’t seen the BT Sport documentary on that team, it’s massively enjoyable.)

This year it’s Brighton who are worried about relegation. Although they have done many good things under the impressive Graham Potter, they haven’t won a game this year and are only four points off the bottom three. They need points now, because six of their next seven games are against the Premier League elite. (We’re including Wolves and Arsenal in that, though you may disagree, and that’s just fine.)

Palace should be okay. No Premier League side has scored fewer goals this season, but their outstanding defence – easily the best in the bottom half of the table – has kept them out of trouble until now. Their win over Newcastle last weekend ended a long winless run and moved them nine points clear of the bottom three. Don’t be surprised if it kicks off a bit later as well.

Kick off is at 12.30pm.