Brightonvs.Crystal Palace

The Eagles boss is close to having a fully-fit squad available to him, with midfield the only area that is still slightly lacking at present.

That is due to the recent injury to Adam Wharton, and he remains a major doubt ahead of this one, so Will Hughes and Jefferson Lerma are set to start in the engine room again for Palace, after doing so in their 2-2 draw versus Manchester City last weekend.

That means the previously irreplaceable Cheick Doucoure, and summer recruit Daichi Kamada are set to start on the bench, despite the former now being fit after injury concerns across the whole of 2024.

Youngster Justin Devenny appears to be above both in the pecking order too, considering he was the man brought on during a crucial time in the game during the draw with the champions last weekend.

Joining Wharton on the treatment table is Joel Ward, who has sustained a calf issue this week and looks set to miss out, alongside Matheus Franca, with the Brazilian attacker ruled out until the new year.

Eddie Nketiah is back from a recent setback, but has lost his place in the squad, with the two-pronged attack experiment with Jean-Philippe Mateta seemingly being scrapped in favour of playing a more natural wide man in the form of Ismaila Sarr.

Moroccan defender Chadi Riad has also recovered from a lengthy setback which saw him miss three months, starting for the Under-21s in midweek, and the summer signing will be in contention to feature in the coming matches.

Daniel Munoz was one of the standout players from the draw with City last week, and the Colombian wing-back has now scored in back-to-back home matches, after not finding the net at all in his first 11 months with the club.

Crystal Palace possible starting lineup:

Henderson; Chalobah, Lacroix, Guehi; Munoz, Hughes, Lerma, Mitchell; Sarr, Mateta, Eze

Written by

Andrew Delaney