The M23 Derby descended into chaos as three players received red cards, but Crystal Palace held on for victory over rivals Brighton at Selhurst Park on Saturday.
Jean Philippe-Mateta opened the scoring just two minutes after the kickoff before Danny Welbeck equalised on the half hour mark. The Eagles retook the lead in the second half thanks to a deflected strike from Daniel Munoz.
Oliver Glasner’s men had to cling on for the three points, however, after substitute Eddie Nketiah and Marc Guehi were both shown second bookings late on. The visitors got in on the act when a mix up at the back led to Jan Paul van Hecke also getting booked for a second time to receive his marching orders in stoppage time.
Palace beat Brighton as ‘ wild’ derby sees three red cards
Brighton boss Fabian Hurzeler admitted after the final whistle that Palace wanted the win more and admonished his players for making too many errors.
“It was very wild,” he told Premier League Productions. “We couldn’t control it at the end. We weren’t able to find 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. We weren’t aggressive enough, the hunger wasn’t there. Why? We have to analyse.”
The Seagulls failed to create much from their advantage, but Dean Henderson was forced into a brilliant save deep into stoppage time.
“It was phenomenal,” the Palace goalkeeper said of the win. “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. This fixture is massive for the fans. It means the same to us. We’re delighted.”
The 2-1 win sees Palace extend their unbeaten run in the Premier League to six games and moves them up to 11th in the table, while Brighton remain 8th.
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