Crystal Palacevs.Brighton

With ill-feeling between the two dating back 50 years, these clubs list the other as their most-bitter rival, despite being separated by over 40 miles between the M23 motorway and A23 road.

Despite starting when both were third-tier clubs in the 1970s, this rivalry is now played on the biggest stage in the Premier League, with both clubs having now been ever-present in the English top flight for almost a decade.

Here, Sports Mole takes an in-depth look at the head-to-head record and previous meetings between the two sides.

Head-to-head record

Previous meetings: 142

Crystal Palace wins: 52

Draws: 40

Brighton wins: 50

One of English football's most misunderstood rivalries, hostility between the fans of Crystal Palace and Brighton grew in the mid-1970s, when both were battling for promotion out of the third tier, with huge attendance figures for that level and crowd trouble gaining notoriety.

That ill-feeling eventually spilled over into the staff, when Brighton manager Alan Mullery had to be escorted off the field at Stamford Bridge after losing the second replay of their FA Cup first round tie in 1976, before entering the Palace dressing room and criticising manager Terry Venables and his squad.

Mullery and Venables led the respective clubs to the top flight by the end of 1970s, and the 1979-80 and 1980-81 campaigns remained the only two occasions where the clubs played in the top flight together, until Brighton's promotion in 2017.

Brighton won three of the four meetings in those two seasons, including doing the double over the Eagles when they finished bottom and were relegated in 1981.

Meetings were few and far between from that point on, but the two were both in the Championship when Brighton moved into the Amex in 2011, with Palace recording a 3-1 win just a month into the season at the new home of their rivals.

That was the same scoreline that Palace won by in the most recent edition of the fixture at the Amex too in December 2024, with Ismaila Sarr proving influential in another 3-1 success.

It continued a fine run of form for Palace at the Amex, where they also won in remarkable circumstances during the behind-closed-doors campaign of 2020-21, when Christian Benteke scored a 95th-minute winner to hand the Eagles a 2-1 victory, despite having just 25% possession, zero corners, and being outshot 25 to three by the Seagulls.

It has proven impossible to separate the sides in recent head-to-heads at Selhurst Park though, with the last five encounters all ending 1-1 on Palace's home pitch, including the dramatic draw in September 2021, when Neal Maupay netted a 95th-minute equaliser for Albion.

Arguably the most important meetings between the clubs came in the Championship playoffs in 2013 though, when Palace won 2-0 at the Amex to advance to the final at Wembley, where they achieved promotion to the top flight after almost a decade away.

Last 20 meetings

Dec 15, 2024: Brighton 1-3 Crystal Palace (Premier League)

Feb 03, 2024: Brighton 4-1 Crystal Palace (Premier League)

Dec 21, 2023: Crystal Palace 1-1 Brighton (Premier League)

Mar 15, 2023: Brighton 1-0 Crystal Palace (Premier League)

Feb 11, 2023: Crystal Palace 1-1 Brighton (Premier League)

Jan 14, 2022: Brighton 1-1 Crystal Palace (Premier League)

Sep 27, 2021: Crystal Palace 1-1 Brighton (Premier League)

Feb 22, 2021: Brighton 1-2 Crystal Palace (Premier League)

Oct 18, 2020: Crystal Palace 1-1 Brighton (Premier League)

Feb 29, 2020: Brighton 0-1 Crystal Palace (Premier League)

Dec 16, 2019: Crystal Palace 1-1 Brighton (Premier League)

Mar 09, 2019: Crystal Palace 1-2 Brighton (Premier League)

Dec 04, 2018: Brighton 3-1 Crystal Palace (Premier League)

Apr 14, 2018: Crystal Palace 3-2 Brighton (Premier League)

Jan 08, 2018: Brighton 2-1 Crystal Palace (FA Cup Third Round)

Nov 28, 2017: Brighton 0-0 Crystal Palace (Premier League)

May 13, 2013: Brighton 0-2 Crystal Palace (Championship Playoff Semi-Final Second Leg)

May 10, 2013: Crystal Palace 0-0 Brighton (Championship Playoff Semi-Final First Leg)

Mar 17, 2013: Brighton 3-0 Crystal Palace (Championship)

Dec 01, 2012: Crystal Palace 3-0 Brighton (Championship)

Last 10 Premier League meetings

Dec 15, 2024: Brighton 1-3 Crystal Palace (Premier League)

Feb 03, 2024: Brighton 4-1 Crystal Palace (Premier League)

Dec 21, 2023: Crystal Palace 1-1 Brighton (Premier League)

Mar 15, 2023: Brighton 1-0 Crystal Palace (Premier League)

Feb 11, 2023: Crystal Palace 1-1 Brighton (Premier League)

Jan 14, 2022: Brighton 1-1 Crystal Palace (Premier League)

Sep 27, 2021: Crystal Palace 1-1 Brighton (Premier League)

Feb 22, 2021: Brighton 1-2 Crystal Palace (Premier League)

Oct 18, 2020: Crystal Palace 1-1 Brighton (Premier League)

Feb 29, 2020: Brighton 0-1 Crystal Palace (Premier League)

Written by

Andrew Delaney