Crystal Palace manager Oliver Glasner celebrates with Maxence Lacroix as Jefferson Lerma shakes hands with Ismaila Sarr after the match
Crystal Palace secured a dramatic 2-1 Premier League victory over Brighton & Hove Albion on Saturday in a match marred by three red cards. Daniel Munoz’s second-half strike proved to be the winner in a game that saw late dismissals for Crystal Palace’s Eddie Nketiah and Marc Guehi, as well as Brighton’s Jan Paul van Hecke.
Palace took an early lead through Jean-Philippe Mateta, who finished a slick Eberechi Eze pass in just the third minute. However, Brighton responded in the 31st minute when Danny Welbeck scored from close range to level the score.
The decisive moment came 10 minutes after the break when Munoz capped off an excellent Palace counter-attack led by Eze, his deflected shot finding the back of the net. The game then descended into chaos with a flurry of late red cards.
Palace substitute Nketiah was initially booked for diving just a minute after coming on for Mateta. His afternoon took a turn for the worse nine minutes later when he received a second yellow card for a reckless high challenge on Brighton’s Van Hecke, resulting in his dismissal.
The home side’s troubles continued as Maxence Lacroix was forced off late in the game with a suspected concussion, leading to 12 minutes of added time. In the dying moments, Guehi became the second Palace player to be sent off, receiving his second yellow card for a studs-up tackle.
Brighton’s numerical advantage was short-lived as Van Hecke also received his marching orders, picking up a second yellow card for a foul on Daichi Kamada in the fifth minute of stoppage time.
Despite being down to nine men, Palace managed to hold on for the win. Brighton’s Yasin Ayari had a late opportunity to snatch a point, but his shot was brilliantly saved by Palace goalkeeper Dean Henderson.
Following the hard-fought victory, Crystal Palace moved up to 11th place in the league standings with 43 points, four points behind eighth-placed Brighton.
“It was phenomenal, the lads were in the trenches at the end – going down to nine men, you have to dig deep and build relationships, no one knew what positions they were playing but they were throwing bodies in the way of shots. I’m speechless. It’s fantastic,” said a delighted Henderson after the match.
Brighton manager Fabian Huerzeler expressed his disappointment at not securing at least a draw. “It was very wild, we couldn’t control it at the end. We weren’t able to find the right solution. The hunger was bigger from Palace – we made again a silly mistake and got the red card, we did too many easy mistakes,” the German coach commented.
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