Crystal Palace 1-2 Brighton: Knockaert curls in brilliant derby winner

Anthony Knockaert curled in a superb late winner for Brighton at rivals Crystal Palace to boost their Premier League survival chances.

The away side were far more clinical than their hosts, despite recording one of the lowest expected goal stats of the season, while the Eagles wasted plenty of possession and chances as they handed their bitter rivals only their second win of 2019.

AS IT HAPPENED: Brighton and Crystal Palace met in M23 derby

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Palace welcomed back Vicente Guaita in goal and Andros Townsend to the starting line-up while Brighton manager Chris Hughton was forced into a change minutes before kick-off as Florin Andone picked up an injury in the warm-up and was replaced by former Eagles star Glenn Murray up front. More on him later

It only took a minute for the game to come to life as Knockaert slid in, studs up, and caught Luka Milivojevic in the last place he’d want to be caught, and the Brighton man was lucky really to escape with a yellow card.

The already fierce atmosphere at Selhurst was kicked up a notch even further a few minutes later when Yves Bissouma caught the Palace captain on the heel, albeit accidentally. The home fans wanted a card (which wasn’t given) and Milivojevic just wanted to stop being in the wars.

Michy Batshauyi, looking for his third goal since arriving on loan from Chelsea in January, had the first effort on target after seven minutes but his deflected shot from the edge of the box was easy for Matt Ryan to gather. It was Palace, cheered on by a their very loud home fan who were on top in the opening exchanges.

Bissouma was then lucky not to get booked for a naughty lunge on, surprise surprise, Zaha but referee Craig Pawson kept his cards in his pocket despite the cacophony of jeers from the home fans.

As expected from a team that only got their first win of 2019 a week prior, Brighton played very deep and Palace found them hard to break down early on, Zaha cutting inside and lashing a shot over the bar after 18 minutes the first real piece of action for a good quarter of an hour.

So of course, Brighton took the lead a minute later and it was obviously Murray with the goal, his 100th league strike for the Seagulls. James Tomkins completely mis-judged a long ball and the 35-year-old – who many Eagles fans were annoyed the club sold to Bournemouth back in 2015 – took advantage to volley home smartly for his 13th goal of the season.

It was completely against the run of play but the Seagulls fans in the away end obviously wouldn’t have cared at all. Martin Montoya was then booked for hauling back, you guessed it, Zaha to prevent Palace getting away on the break after Brighton had a very soft penalty claim turned down by Friend.

Palace continued to press for an equaliser; Zaha had an effort blocked in the box after a good move and from the resulting corner Tomkins almost made up for his error as he headed against the bar while Jeffrey Schlupp spun and put the rebound just wide.

It just wasn’t happening for Palace with the final touches in the box all too often the wrong ones while down the other end Murray was enjoying himself against Tomkins and Scott Dann, with that Mamadou Sakho shaped hole in defence getting more and more obvious as the game wore on.

Those home fans got the perfect response after the break as Townsend was clipped in the box by Davy Propper and Milivojevic fired home from the spot to level up the scores. It was his eighth penalty of the season and it completely changed the complexion of the game. The initiative was then with the Eagles.

They poured forward but they still found clear cut chances hard to come by. Townsend spun and fired over in the box while Milivojevic – urged by the home fans to hit one from distance – curled an effort wide of Ryan’s post.

But just like in the first half, Brighton scored against the run of play to win it. Knockeart, lucky to be on the pitch after that first-half challenge, was allowed space to drift in off the right flank and curled an excellent effort right into the top corner past Guaita. It was only Brighton’s third shot on goal all game.

Roy Hodgson rolled the dice for the final 10 minutes, introducing Max Meyer and Christian Benteke for James McArthur and Andros Townsend in a bid to find a way into a game they were well on top in. Murray was perhaps fortunate to then escape a second yellow card for kicking the ball away in frustration but Pawson felt generous.

The final chance came to Schlupp in injury time but the ball just wouldn’t sit up nicely for him and his volley flashed over the bar and into the Holmesdale Road and that just about summed up Palace’s afternoon.

It just wasn’t their day. Too many passes and final touches went astray and in the end they were punished by a far more organised and clinical outfit. Brighton’s win took them level with their rivals on 33 points, eight clear of the relegation zone, while Palace must now hope to be better in that FA Cup quarter-final at Watford next weekend.