It's again that time of the year where Crystal Palace and Brighton fans attempt to provide legitimacy to their rivalry.
Matches between the two have been a biannual occurrence since Brighton's promotion to the Premier League in 2017 and yet prior to each meeting, explainers flood the internet on why a meeting between two clubs separated by 39 miles is labelled a derby. Palace themselves posted one such article on their website last season.
The TL;DR version is that the two sides had an infamous FA Cup clash in the 1976-77 season, where Brighton were made to controversially retake a converted penalty, missed the second attempt and went on to lose 1-0. Seagulls boss Alan Mullery was fuming post-match and threw coins onto the pitch, claiming "It's all Palace are worth."
And, the rest is rivalry.
It's not quite 'Fear and Loathing on the A23' as both sets of fans make it out to be, but meetings between the two have been shaded by spice since that infamous FA Cup match. Prior to a Championship playoff clash in the 2012-13 season, Palace entered the away dressing room at the American Express Stadium to find it covered by excrement. There were violent clashes between supporters ahead of their first Premier League contest in 2017.
The action on the pitch has been equally dramatic. There was a period in the early 2020s that saw game-changing injury-time goals scored in three successive seasons. A match at the Amex in 2025 featured three red cards in the final 15 minutes.
Their meeting this weekend on the south coast brings similar promise of drama, or at the very least, goals. Brighton are the top scorers this season with 18 goals, while Palace have one of the worst defences in the league and are conceding an average of two goals a game.
Beyond the fact that it will be Palace boss Pierre Sage's first match against Brighton, Sunday's clash marks a new chapter in the rivalry as it will be the first time both these teams enter it on the back of midweek European excursions.
Palace suffered a 3-1 loss at Lyon on Thursday in the Europa League while Brighton began the League Phase of their Conference League campaign with a 4-0 win over Kauno Zalgiris.
With broadening horizons come loftier ambitions. Palace's loss in France was their first ever away game in the Europa League but that didn't temper Sage's scathing assessment of their performance. Similarly, if Brighton don't reach at least the semifinals of the Conference League, their campaign will be viewed as a failure.
This is the new reality of the Premier League middle class. Teams like Aston Villa and Newcastle have shown that solidifying your place among the elite isn't an easy task, but Champions League qualification and silverware are no longer out-of-reach promised lands in the way they once were. Just earlier this week, Brentford's Mamadou Sangare said the club should back themselves for a top-two finish.
The fact that four of the top six -- Liverpool, Manchester United, Chelsea, Tottenham -- each lie on the spectrum between transition and crisis has emboldened their opponents. Villa, one of the five teams to qualify for the Champions League last year, have also undergone a significant overhaul. And then of course, there's the entire Manchester City case that could open up an extra spot at the top depending on how the sanctions play out.
Brighton have led the chasing pack this season, picking up eye-catching wins over champions Arsenal as well as Man United in the Carabao Cup. The double-act of a 32-year-old manager in Fabian Huerzler and a 35-year-old forward Pascal Gross has furthered their appeal. And especially in light of the conversations being had about City financially manipulating themselves to the top, Brighton's thrifty, analytics-driven spending provides a neat counterpoint.
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Brighton, along with Brentford and Bournemouth, have often been held up as beacons of nimble, modern clubs that punch above their weight. But in fact, it has been Crystal Palace who have been this group's founding member.
In recent seasons, they haven't been as nimble in the transfer market or had proper contingency plans in place, but the fact that a club that nearly went bust in 2010 hasn't left the top flight since coming up in 2013 makes them one of the best underdog stories in the league's modern history. Their FA Cup and Conference League wins in successive years shattered the glass ceiling that a majority of the non-top six clubs had been confined by.
The fact that Palace are often overlooked in discussions about the league's upwardly mobile clubs will bring a new edge to their rivalry with Brighton.
Sage's tenure is yet to achieve liftoff but victory at the Amex to follow last week's win over his predecessor Oliver Glasner's Nottingham Forest would get the new era at Selhurst Park underway. Meanwhile, a win for Brighton could see them finish the weekend in second place if other results go their way.
Brighton vs. Crystal Palace is no longer a game that decides which of the two finishes in the bottom half of the table. This season, its implications could be felt in the upper reaches of the Premier League.
