Crystal Palace will play hosts to Brighton & Hove Albion at the AMEX this Saturday afternoon with the Eagles dropping into 12th after a terrible winless run just as the Seagulls campaign for Europe following their incredible form.
Brighton have finally found their feet under Roberto De Zerbi. The Italian failed to win in his first six games in charge which included a debut against Liverpool at Anfield that ended 3-3. Now, he had led his side to a thumping 3-0 win over the Reds in the Premier League and also a 2-1 victory over Liverpool in the FA Cup just two weeks ago. De Zerbi's side then defeated Bournemouth 1-0 in the Premier League after another late goal from the sensational Kaoru Mitoma. The Japanese scored the winning goal against Liverpool in the FA Cup too.
It now leaves Brighton just five behind Tottenham Hotspur in fifth and with two games in hand left to play. It does now mean the south coast side could rocket themselves into fifth if they keep on winning and finally start to dream of a place in Europe.
Brighton have still also only let in 27 goals from 20 games, which is just six more than Manchester City who have played one more game. The Seagulls have scored 38 times as well, lost only six and have just that defeat to Arsenal on New Year's Eve to deal with since Christmas.
As for Palace, they've met twice with Manchester United in the past two weeks and almost got a draw in both games. At Selhurst Park, Michel Olise's stunning free kick earned them a point just before Palace travelled to Old Trafford last weekend and lost 2-1. Jeffery Schulpp scored that day.
It does leaves the club down in 12th after also losing to Chelsea and drawing with Newcastle United since the FA Cup games a few weeks back. Relegation is far from an issue for the Eagles, and they are merely looking to overtake Liverpool in 10th these days.