M23 Derby Feels Like an Impending Traffic Accident | OneFootball

Sunday’s clash between Brighton and Crystal Palace, two teams with collectively two wins in their last 20 matches, could be a legitimate pile-up of run-down jalopies. Or it could be a thrilling contest akin to a F1 race.

Palace. Wow. Terrible.

In all honesty, every Crystal Palace match carries the gravitas of a six-pointer now. The South London side have been on such a ghastly run of form that even last week’s draw to a 10-man Nottingham Forest team felt like a warm ray of sunshine on a frigid day.

Crystal Palace Last 10 Matches. Ghastly. Source: Sofascore

After playing three games in a three-week stretch (which must have felt like a spa holiday after their 14 game ordeal in 42 days during the Crucible of late 2025), Palace will go back into the meatgrinder with five games between Sunday and the end of February. Three of those are league ties; two are play-offs for the UEFA Conference League. That draw with KuPS cost dearly in terms of recovery time. 

Which brings us full-circle back to the M23 Derby, with the Eagles traveling down the motorway to visit Brighton & Hove Albion’s AMEX stadium. The reverse fixture in Selhurst back in early November was a 0 – 0 stalemate, a result I believe any reasonable Palace fan would welcome again… considering.

Brighton. Not much better.

But Brighton are no juggernaut at the moment, either. They have the same number of wins (7), and only sit two points, and two places, higher in the table.

Brighton’s last ten matches. At least there’s some green. Source: Sofascore

Their only league win in the last ten matches was against Burnley, though they did dispatch Manchester United at Old Trafford in dramatic fashion in the FA Cup 3rd Round.

Stoppage time has been both a blessing and curse to the Seagulls. Two weeks ago, Charalambos Kostoulas salvaged a point in the 91st against Bournemouth. But then they conceded in the 92nd at Fulham to lose, and Everton’s Beto thumped in a shocking 97th minute equalizer last week.

Winter Transfer Report – Brighton

Brighton did limited business over the winter window, with one exception.

Resigning former captain Pascal Groß from Borussia was tactically smart but also returns one of the club’s more beloved figures into the fold. His score against Everton last week just put an exclamation mark on how good a move that was.

Recalling central midfielder Matt O’Riley from Marseille will give Brighton more depth and rotation, very useful as fellow positioners Yasin Ayari, Mats Wieffer and Solly March are all out injured.

Winter Transfer Report – Crystal Palace

Crystal Palace broke their transfer record in signing Brennan Johnson from Spurs for $47M early in the window.

Then they went and did it AGAIN, right before the end of deadline day, this time pulling Jørgen Strand-Larsen away from relegation-bound Wolverhampton. The fee there was $57.5M. Frankly, I feel the club overpaid for the pair.

Evann Guessand also joined on loan from Villa, giving the Eagles a plethora of attacking options. A more critical target, Everton’s clever all-rounder Dwight McNeil, slipped away much to my chagrin.

Also on the downside: there’s no replacement for Marc Guéhi, who departed to Manchester City for a song. Furthermore, as Jean-Philippe Mateta’s move to AC Milan was undone by a failed medical, they now have to deal with a surly striker who will be fighting for minutes with the newcoming. Talk about awkward.

Expect Strand-Larsen to start. If he got a goal that would ease supporters’ souls concerned at his expense.

Takeaway

This fixture for some resembles two punch-drunk middle-weights heady to go a few rounds at the beginning of the evening’s fight card, but it matters like hell to the supporters. This derby-that’s-not-really-a-derby always packs some drama. Let’s hope it’s just all on the pitch, and not the baggage either side is carrying into the stadium.