Palace team news: Veltman out, Welbeck not ready to start

Main Club Sponsor

TICKETS

SHOP

Read the full preview ahead of Thursday night.

Charlie Hanson

2023-12-20T15:00:00Z

Danny Welbeck made his return to Premier League action on Sunday after two months on the sidelines.

Albion will look to make it back-to-back victories over Crystal Palace on Thursday when we head to Selhurst Park, kick-off 8pm.

Roberto De Zerbi’s team could move up to seventh spot with a victory, level on points with sixth- placed Newcastle, who have a goal difference that is 12 better than Albion’s. It will be the Italian's 50th league game in charge.

Checking Live Fixtures...

No Live Fixtures

Live League Table Table

Summary
Extended
Form

Pos

Team

Pld

Pts

Crystal Palace CRY

-1

Albion Albion

-7

Everton EVE

-11

Palace are without a win in their last six matches, although they did pick up an impressive point against Manchester City at the Etihad in their last outing when they came from 2-0 down to draw 2-2.

Team news

Joel Veltman was substituted in the first half against Arsenal.

Speaking in his press conference on Wednesday afternoon, Roberto De Zerbi said, "Joel has an injury that is not so big, maybe we’ve lost him for a month.

"Danny Welbeck is not ready to start, but it’s important for us that he is available to play a part of the game. He changed the game on Sunday."

Our last meeting

Solly March scored what proved to the be winner early on in our 1-0 victory at the Amex back in February. It brought an end to a run of three consecutive 1-1 draws between the two teams.

Match stats

The last four Premier League meetings between Crystal Palace and Brighton and Hove Albion at Selhurst Park have all ended 1-1.

Brighton and Hove Albion are unbeaten in their last four league games against Crystal Palace (W1 D3), last enjoying a longer such run between 1979 and 1986 (10 in a row).

Crystal Palace are winless in all five of their midweek (Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday) Premier League games in 2023 (D1 L4), failing to score in all four defeats.

Brighton have won five of their eight midweek (Tues, Weds, Thurs) Premier League games in 2023 (D1 L2), though both defeats in this run have come away from home (1-3 v Nottingham Forest, 1-4 v Newcastle).

Crystal Palace have lost each of their last four Premier League home games, as many as in their previous 19 at Selhurst Park combined (W7 D8). They last lost five in a row between December 2016 and February 2017.

Brighton and Hove Albion are without a clean sheet in their last 21 Premier League games, shipping 38 goals in that run. It’s their longest ever league run without a clean sheet in their entire history.

In their 2-0 defeat to Arsenal, Brighton had their fewest shots on target in a Premier League match under Roberto De Zerbi (1) and faced the most shots (26) in a game under the Italian. They also managed just 13 touches in the opposition box, only having fewer in two games since last October.

Since the start of October, no side have won fewer Premier League matches than Crystal Palace (1, level with Nottingham Forest and Luton Town). They are also the only side without a home Premier League win in that timeframe.

After a run of 18 Premier League games without a goal, Crystal Palace’s Jean-Philippe Mateta has now scored in his last two. He last scored in three consecutive league games in October 2017, while in French Ligue 2 with Le Havre.

Teenagers have made 99 Premier League appearances for Brighton and Hove Albion in 2023, the most by a team in a calendar year in Premier League history. Nine different teenagers have appeared for the Seagulls this year, with only Spurs in 1993 (10) and Middlesbrough in 2006 (10) having more appear in a single year in the competition.

Match officials