Crystal Palace vs Brighton Preview: Classic Encounter, Key Battle, Team News & More

The M23 Derby will have another chapter added to it's story this Saturday, when Brighton travel to Selhurst Park, where they'll take on their fierce rivals Crystal Palace in what will be a telling game in the battle for survival. 

Chris Hughton's men are sitting far more comfortably that Roy Hodgson's side on 35 points, with the majority believing that just one more win will see them safe in their first ever Premier League season. In contrast, the Eagles are sat precariously on 31 points, just three above the drop zone. 

A win for the Seagulls would push their arch rivals closer to the drop, in doing so perhaps extracting some revenge for their play off semi final defeat back in 2013; it really should be a blood and thunder game of football in south London. 

Here's everything you need to know ahead of the crunch clash:

Classic Encounter

Dan Istitene/GettyImages

Crystal Palace moved to the top of the Championship with a 3-0 win over their rivals back in 2012, after Brighton played the majority of the game with 10 men after Lewis Dunk's eighth minute dismissal for a lunge on Yannick Bolasie. 

A brace from current Seagulls forward Glenn Murray, as well as a spot kick from Owen Garvan after Murray was felled in the area, saw Ian Holloway's men record a comprehensive victory. Murray, despite notching his 16th and 17th goals of an excellent season in this tie, decided to let Garvan take the spot kick having missed twice from the spot himself so far in that campaign. 

In doing so, he failed to record a hat trick against the club who he left initially to arrive at Selhurst Park in 2011 on a free transfer. However, Murray had the last laugh after the Eagles earned promotion at the expense of the Seagulls via the play offs in that very same season. 

Key Battle

Wilfried Zaha vs Lewis Dunk

Christopher Lee/GettyImages

The battle between Wilfried Zaha and Lewis Dunk should be an extremely enticing one to watch this Saturday, especially given the latter's hot headed approach to these sort of games. 

Dunk, as aforementioned in the classic encounter, has seen red in this fixture before and has been filmed expressing his opinion on the Ivorian in the past. Off the field, the pair clearly aren't fans of each other, adding a little extra spice to their already compelling battle on the pitch. 

Team News

Dan Istitene/GettyImages

Christian Benteke missed the Eagles' trip to Bournemouth with a groin strain but should be fit for selection against Brighton. Alexander Sorloth and Jeffrey Schlupp may be fit for the fixture, but will need late tests on hamstring and ankle injuries respectively. Jason Puncheon, Scott Dann, Bakary Sako and Connor Wickham are all still unavailable. 

For Brighton, Hughton has a fully fit squad to choose apart from Izzy Brown and Steve Sidwell, who are both recovering from knee and back injuries respectively. Davy Propper will begin his three match ban by sitting out the trip to Selhurst Park. 

Prediction 

Mike Hewitt/GettyImages

As mentioned in the introduction, the Seagulls are sitting fairly comfortably in the battle for survival. With the knowledge that just one more win could do it, complacency could creep in as well as a lack of urgency from Hughton's side. 

Palace, in all honesty, are in real danger of the drop and should enter this game with more motivation than their opponents. Having said all of this, the pressure is on the Eagles to perform; all factors taken into account, this should really be one of the weekend's standout fixtures. 

Prediction: Crystal Palace 2-0 Brighton