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Crystal Palace host Brighton this weekend at Selhurst Park where they will be hoping to snatch back the bragging rights, having succumbed to a 3-1 defeat earlier in the season. BBC Sport pundit Mark Lawrenson has given his predictions ahead of the game and he thinks he knows what Seagulls boss Chris Hughton will want to do.

What did he say?

Writing in his weekly predictions feature for BBC Sport, the former Liverpool defender said:

“Crystal Palace have had much better results on the road than they have done at Selhurst Park this season, where they have only won three out of 14 league games.

“A lot of that is down to their preferred style of play – the Eagles can play on the break when they are away but at home they have got to force the issue more, and the opposition are the ones sitting back.

“This game will be hectic because it is a derby, but it will probably follow that pattern too.

“Brighton picked up their first league win of 2019 when they beat Huddersfield last week and I am pretty sure that, after finally winning, their manager Chris Hughton’s main aim will be to avoid defeat.”

Hesitant Hughton

Palace and their bitter rivals might be entering this game off the back of very important wins last week but their mindsets surely couldn’t be more different – as Lawrenson says, Brighton’s win was their first of the year and they only just managed it, while the Eagles tore a resolute Burnley side to shreds.

Roy Hodgson’s side will be hoping that they can build on an impressive run of results with an emphatic win while Hughton presumably just doesn’t want what could become a winning streak be crushed before it’s even begun.

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Palace will no doubt be the aggressor on Saturday but they must be careful not to be caught on the counter – that is surely where their visitors will hurt them most.