Brighton v Crystal Palace – Betting Preview
Brighton Summary
Sitting in seventh place but with games in hand of those above them, Brighton is within touching distance of 4th place before this game in hand against rivals Crystal Palace.
Life without Graham Potter has become that not only they are just as strong on the pitch, but Brighton is also playing more entertaining football with better results.
The morale and confidence are excellent in the south coast club.
They tore West Ham apart in a 4-0 drubbing two weeks ago but settled for a 2-2 draw with Leeds in Yorkshire this weekend.
Looking at team news now for Brighton for this must-win game.
Solly March is 100% fit after shaking off a knock.
Lallana is missing along with Moder, while Lamptey and Webster are carrying knocks and big doubts.
Overall however, the host is considered close to full strength and backed by a sell-out and vocal crowd. They have no excuse here and will be set on a win against a hated rival.
Crystal Palace Summary
Without a win since New Year’s Eve and with the boss coming under increasing scrutiny, Crystal Palace travel to big rivals Brighton in bad shape and low on confidence.
Spinning this into a positive opportunity momentarily, Viera will know a win against their top six chasing host will quickly appease the disgruntled fans of Palace, of which they are growing. Motivation should be at its highest.
Crystal Palace broke an unwanted record of going 4 games without hitting the target in the narrow 0-1 loss to City on the weekend.
The football is predictable and their games are dull. However, none of this seems to matter for the owners just yet.
The results have not been bad for the Londoners but they have been largely disappointing, especially the lack of wins. Palace has racked up plenty of draws but the club is in dire need of a win to boost morale and their chances of staying up.
The last came in Bournemouth in the final hours of 2022.
Patrick Viera is now under pressure, this is not a match they are expected to get three points but they will aim to avoid a loss.
A defeat to their rivals would be a horrible blow to already bad confidence.
In terms of team news, Crystal Palace has good news.
Manager Viera can recall Doucoure from a suspension. The holding midfielder is an important defensive man and regains his spot from Lokonga.
Betting Analysis
Looking at the 1×2 market first. Brighton is a big favourite @ 1.41. They are playing much more precise and effective football and with far more confidence. But in a derby game, the odds feel too short to back.
Palace has very little reason to be positive about winning or even scoring goals, but a big derby game may be the perfect time to pull out a strong showing.
Palace is @ 7.5 to win and the draw is @ 4.55.
Moving onto the Asian handicap betting for this contest. As above, Brighton -1.25 looks fair on paper but the view here is that it’s a massive derby game and unlikely to be one-sided. Preference for Palace +1.25 @ 1.83.
Looking at The Under/Over goal line last of all where the market cannot decide between over and under.
The line is set at 2.5 and both the under/over are both @ 1.90 which makes sense. For no logical reason other than they will have huge vocal support and be super motivated, the view is that Palace will score here and if they get one early, it could open up. Slight preference for over.
