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Crystal Palace vs Brighton LIVE commentary: Injury-hit Eagles welcome bitter rivals to Selhurst Park – kick-off time, team news and how to follow
Crystal Palace welcome bitter rivals Brighton to Selhurst Park tonight as the Premier League derby under the lights kicks off the festive schedule.
The Eagles come into this one after a valiant 2-2 draw against Manchester City, which saw a late Michael Olise penalty snatch a point for Palace.
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Roy Hodgson's side are currently dealing with plenty of injuries, but seeing Eberechi Eze come off the bench would have been a relief.
Meanwhile, Brighton are still searching for their first clean sheet of the campaign and make the relatively short trip to south London off the back of a 2-0 defeat to Arsenal.
The Seagulls were never really in the game and managed just one shot on target, which is unusual for Roberto De Zerbi's men, who have scored at least once in every other league game this season.
Crystal Palace vs Brighton: Origins of the rivalry
On the face of it, Crystal Palace and Brighton being rivals seems odd.
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They aren't that close to each other, with both having nearer potential rivals, and they haven't often been in the same league.
However, it's a big deal for both sets of fans, with the rivalry originating in the 1970s.
In 1974, Palace were relegated to the third division and faced Brighton four times across the next two seasons in some ill-tempered games.
This was also the point in which Brighton fans changed their nickname from the Dolphins to the Seagulls in response to Palace fans chanting about the Eagles.
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In 1976/77, the two played each other five times, with the final game taking place in the FA Cup at Stamford Bridge.
Palace won 1-0 and tensions boiled over at full-time when Brighton manager Alan Mullery rudely gestured towards the Palace fans.
From that moment, the rivalry as it is today was born.
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Crystal Palace vs Brighton: Team news
The Eagles are set to be without several players due to various concerns.
Cheick Doucoure's season looks to be over due to a horrible Achilles injury, while Jesurun Rak-Sakyi is out with a bad hamstring tear.
Joel Ward and Jefferson Lerma also have similar hamstring issues.
Sam Johnstone and Odsonne Edouard are struggling, along with Rob Holding, who has an ankle problem.
But Eze could start after returning as a substitute against City.
Meanwhile, Brighton have plenty of long-term concerns themselves.
Ansu Fati, Pervis Estupinan and Solly March are all out while Joel Veltman has joined them after suffering a knee injury against Arsenal.
Tariq Lamptey and Adam Webster are also a few weeks away from returning.
Danny Welbeck could start following a lengthy absence.
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Crystal Palace vs Brighton: What has been said?
Brighton boss De Zerbi believed that his side deserved to lose their game against Arsenal.
He said: “I’m disappointed for the result, but we deserved to lose, Arsenal played much better than us and deserved to win.
"We defended well and fought in a good way, but to be honest, they played much better.
"We had the chance to score in the second half and maybe the result could have been different but we didn’t deserve to make a point."
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Crystal Palace vs Brighton: talkSPORT coverage
This Premier League clash is set to take place on Thursday, December 21.
Kick-off at Selhurst Park is scheduled for 8pm.
talkSPORT will have live and exclusive coverage from south London, with Hugh Woozencroft serving as your presenter.
Commentary will then come from Joe Shennan and former Lioness Lianne Sanderson.
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marvelbet369.com will also have all of the reaction from Selhurst Park.
Listen through the website HERE. You can also listen via the talkSPORT app, on DAB digital radio, through your smart speaker and on 1089 or 1053 AM.
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