Soccer Football - Premier League - Brighton & Hove Albion v Crystal Palace - The American Express Community Stadium, Brighton, Britain - December 15, 2024 Brighton & Hove Albion's Jan Paul van Hecke in action with Crystal Palace's Eddie Nketiah REUTERS/Jaimi Joy
BRIGHTON, England (Reuters) -Crystal Palace winger Ismaila Sarr scored a brace as his side beat arch-rivals Brighton & Hove Albion 3-1 at the Amex Stadium on Sunday, handing the Seagulls their first home defeat in the Premier League this season.
Unbeaten in their last five league games, Palace climb to 15th place in the table with 16 points from as many matches. They are four points clear of relegation-threatened Ipswich Town, who sit 18th.
Brighton drop to ninth with 24 points, four behind fourth-placed Nottingham Forest.
"We look up, in front of us, and it was a massive chance for us to reduce the gap to the teams in front of us. But we don't talk about the table, we talk about our performance. The positive thing is we can play better," Palace manager Oliver Glasner told Sky Sports.
"It's a very important game for us, it's a very important game for our fans and I told the players it was the best Christmas gift we could give them because they are always behind us."
Both teams got off to a lively start with Kaoru Mitoma nearly opening the scoring inside three minutes after Joao Pedro produced a brilliant overhead flick, but Palace goalkeeper Dean Henderson pulled off a fine save to deny the Japanese winger.
It was the visitors who drew first blood when centre back Trevoh Chalobah fired into the top corner from close range in the 27th minute thanks to a quality corner from midfielder Will Hughes which led to some confusion in the Brighton box.
Glasner, who made no changes to the side that drew 2-2 with reigning champions Manchester City at Selhurst Park last weekend, and his side held their breath through a VAR check for handball before the goal was confirmed.
Brighton goalkeeper Bart Verbruggen made a double save to keep out Sarr and Daniel Munoz before being beaten as the home side found themselves two goals down six minutes later when Sarr eventually met a deep cross from left back Tyrick Mitchell with a brilliant header.
Missing their leading league scorer this season in Danny Welbeck, Brighton created very little against a confident-looking Palace in the first half.
Henderson went on to make a string of saves, keeping out a Lewis Dunk header and moments later a Julio Enciso shot, as Brighton responded with a wave of attacks following the interval.
Palace right wing-back Munoz had the ball in the net in the 67th minute but just as the Colombian celebrated what he thought was his side's third goal, VAR came to Brighton's rescue and chalked it off for a foul by Sarr on Pervis Estupinan.
However, Sarr scored his second goal of the afternoon to leave Brighton with a mountain to climb when he collected Eddie Nketiah's pass and raced past Dunk to calmly finish off past Verbruggen before centre back Marc Guehi scored an own goal in the 87th minute.
"We conceded the goals too easy. We didn't score in the phases when we had plenty of chances and that is why it is a bad experience. It is very disappointing but we should see this as a lesson for us," Brighton head coach Fabian Huerzeler told BBC Sport.
(Reporting by Pearl Josephine Nazare in Bengaluru; editing by Clare Fallon)
