Brighton vs. Crystal Palace Prediction, Odds, Picks (December 15)

Brighton vs. Crystal Palace – who’s going to win, how many goals we’re going to see, and which player(s) are going to score them? We’re going to answer all of those questions in this betting preview.

Brighton vs. Crystal Palace Game Information

• When: Sunday, December 15, 2024, at 9:00 a.m. (Eastern Time)
• Where: AMEX Stadium in Brighton (~50 miles from the Crystal Palace area of South London)
• Weather Forecast: 49°F (9°C), Mostly Cloudy
• Competition: 16^th Round of the English Premier League
• How to Watch: Paramount+

It’s going to be fine weather for soccer on Sunday in Brighton. The temperature is going to be a few degrees higher than earlier this week, which is good news for players. It’s still going to be chilly enough for them to have no other option but to run all the time in order to stay warm.

Brighton vs. Crystal Palace Head-to-Head

Crystal Palace aren’t doing as great as they did last year when they finished 10^th. They’re now 17^th in the Prem, mainly because their offense has been ineffective with just 14 goals in 15 games.

However, in their most recent game, they scored two goals against the defending EPL champions, Manchester City. It was a great result for the Eagles, and they’re now probably feeling good about their chances on the South Coast.

The problem, however, is that Brighton have been playing great on their turf this season. They’re one of just three EPL teams that are without a loss at home in the 2024-25 season.

Brighton vs. Crystal Palace Preview

Brighton is a better team than Crystal Palace, but these guys are without a win in the last three games. The Eagles are in better shape, especially given that they drew 2:2 with Man City. However, the fact is that Pep Guardiola’s men aren’t playing great soccer at the minute.

Crystal Palace scored twice in that game, which was only the fourth time this season that they did it. In the other 11 Premier League games, they scored either one or no goals.

What’s interesting is that the scorers in the Man City game were defenders, Daniel Munoz and Maxence Lacroix. That’s another proof of how bad Crystal Palace’s forwards have been this season. In fact, attacker Jean-Philippe Mateta is the Eagles’ top-scorer with just 4 goals, while no other striker has scored a single goal.

Over in the Brighton roster, 7 of the 8 players listed as forwards managed to score at least one Premier League goal this season. Their top scorer is Danny Welbeck with 6.

Injury Report

Brighton’s biggest problem ahead of Sunday’s game is that they’ll miss a couple of important players, particularly from the defensive department. Adam Webster, Ferdi Kadioglu, and Joel Veltman are expected to miss out.

Brighton’s coach has enough replacements to fill in their spots in the starting lineup, but if someone gets injured, huge problems could arise.

There are no major injury issues bothering Crystal Palace at the moment, with their only two injured players being Adam Wharton and Chadi Riad, both of whom are backups.

Brighton vs. Crystal Palace Prediction

Brighton look capable of scoring against any opponent, but their defensive line is banged up, which is why we think Crystal Palace will score a goal as well. We wouldn’t be surprised if this happened from a set-piece, with one of their center-backs (e.g., Marc Guehi) scoring a header.

But that probably won’t be enough to beat the Seagulls in Brighton. But can they snatch a point on their trip to the South Coast? They might, but we think it’s more likely the hosts will win.

Picks:

• Brighton
• Both Teams to Score
• Over 2.5 Goals
• Marc Guehi to Score