Crystal Palace completed a league double over rivals Brighton for the first time in the top flight as they secured a 2-1 win at Selhurst Park in a match that featured three red cards.
Two stunning efforts from Jean-Philippe Mateta and Daniel Munoz, either side of a Danny Welbeck leveller – and before Eddie Nketiah, Marc Guehi and Jan Paul van Hecke were all sent off – ensured Oliver Glasner’s side became the first in Premier League history to win a home game having received two red cards.
Having been beaten comprehensively in December’s reverse fixture, the result serves as another bump in the road for Fabian Hurzeler’s side who have now gone three without victory, losing their last two.
Mateta’s 13th league goal of the season was taken cleanly just three minutes into play as he collected Eberechi Eze’s through-pass before letting fly and finding the top corner.
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Jean-Philippe Mateta scores Crystal Palace’s opening goal against Brighton within the game’s first few minutes. Watch Paul Merson’s reaction to it
Palace continued to prod, but a lively start from both sides meant Brighton also carried a threat, with the away side countering to draw out a superb double save from Dean Henderson as he kept out Carlos Baleba and Welbeck.
Unfortunately for Henderson, he could do nothing to stop Welbeck tapping home when Yankuba Minteh put an inswinging cross on a dime for the 34-year-old to guide home his eighth of the league season to make him Brighton’s all-time Premier League top goalscorer.
The beginning of the second half failed to deliver on the promises of the first with both teams making a tentative start after the break. But, out of nowhere, a Palace counter saw Eze pull back a cross with just the right purchase on it to allow an oncoming Munoz to arrow past Bart Verbruggen.
Nketiah replaced Mateta in the 68th minute and found himself in the referee’s book just a minute later for a dive in the box.
Nine minutes afterwards, Nketiah was shown a second yellow for a high boot on Van Hecke. Marc Guehi soon followed his team-mate down the tunnel after also receiving a second yellow for catching Brajan Gruda with his studs.
With 12 minutes of stoppage time to be played, chaos continued with Van Hecke being the third man to be sent off after a trip on Daichi Kamada. Despite the disadvantage, Palace managed to hold on.
Having had eyes on moving into seventh, Brighton stay in eighth, opening up an opportunity for Fulham to leapfrog them on Sunday when the Cottagers host Liverpool, live on Sky Sports. Palace move within four points of Brighton.
Glasner: I’m exhausted
Crystal Palace boss Oliver Glasner:
“I’ve been in football for more than 30 years, but this is the first one with all the dramatic situations with the circumstances today.
“It’s a massive win, but I’m really exhausted because so much is going on in this atmosphere at the end in the stadium and the fighting spirit of the team and the togetherness with our fans.
“It’s just great to experience. I’ve talked about it very often, these moments you can’t buy, you have to experience and it’s great to get this experience and be part of it. So even when I’m really happy to lay on my sofa and just do nothing [after] today.”
On the two red cards: “It is a decision, and I make many more mistakes when I’m the referee in training games. It’s not so easy. It is how it is, and it’s a chance for other players at [Manchester] City.”
Hurzeler: Mistakes are costing us
Brighton boss Fabian Hurzeler:
“It was a very emotional game, a very wild game and difficult to get a rhythm into this game, especially in the second half. That was our disadvantage, so we weren’t able to control the game like in the first half because of several things and then of course, the emotional final part of the game didn’t help us to control it.
“We had too much [mistakes] this week. Individual mistakes where we weren’t able to minimise them and if you do too many then it’s not easy to win Premier League games. These are the things we have to analyse, then we have to get better and find the right solutions.”