Ismaila Sarr scored a double Crystal Palace moved four points clear of the Premier League relegation zone after a 3-1 victory over their rivals Brighton and Hove Albion.

Sarr scored in each half while Trevoh Chalobah was also on track to Olivier GlasnerThe team, which has won two consecutive away victories and is now undefeated for five games.

Palace scored twice in the space of six minutes in the first half, Chalobah opening the scoring in scrappy fashion before Sarr’s header doubled the Eagles’ advantage.

Brighton, often upset by the excellent Palace goalkeeper Dean Hendersoncontrolled long periods after the break, but Sarr’s second goal eight minutes from time doomed Fabien HurzelerThe team suffered its first home defeat of the season.

An unfortunate own goal in the 87th minute of Marc Guéhi provided consolation to Brighton, who are ninth, while Palace move up to 15th.

How the match went

After Henderson denied Kaoru Mitoma From the start, the visitors took advantage of the good work of their goalkeeper in the 27th minute.

Will HughesThe corner ricocheted nicely Jan Paul van Hecke and Sarr for Chalobah, who fired into the roof of the net from close range.

Palace were 2-0 up soon after as Sarr went from provider to goalscorer as he headed towards Tyrick Mitchell‘s deep cross to the back post.

Brighton looked rejuvenated after the break but could not find a way past Henderson, and Palace did damage on the counter in the 82nd minute when Sarr ran clear and slipped beyond. Bart Verbruggen.

Henderson’s clean sheet was spoiled when Maxence Lacroix‘s attempted clearance bounced off defensive partner Guehi, but it was too little, too late for Brighton, who were fortunate that Eddie Nketiah then wasted an opportunity to restore Palace’s three-goal cushion.

Are seagulls’ wings clipped?

Brighton have had a fantastic start under Hurzeler, but they have found things tougher in recent weeks, and Sunday’s contest proved to be a continuation of that form.

After succumbing to a late comeback in the 2-2 draw at Leicester City Last week saw Brighton looking for a response against their rivals, but instead they finished the game having surrendered their unbeaten home run in the league this season.

They started brightly, with Mitoma going close, but with Henderson in inspired form for Palace between the posts, the Seagulls were opened up defensively at the other end. Their failure to deal with the set-piece for Palace’s opener was followed by Tariq Lamptey getting caught under the ball while setting up Sarr’s header just six minutes later. As against Leicester, Brighton conceded twice in a row.

The halftime introduction Julio Enciso as Lamptey sparked a reaction from the hosts, who were well ahead for most of the second half.

It took smart saves from Henderson to prevent a thumping blow Lewis Dunk header and Enciso’s curling attempt to prevent them from halving the deficit.

Yet they failed to find the breakthrough, and ultimately the pace of Palace’s counter-attack punished them. A trip to West Ham United Next comes the Seagulls, who will aim to get their season back on track after this bump in the road.

Glasner’s Eagles move into high gear

Unbeaten for four games going into the game, Palace knew this was a good opportunity to put some distance between themselves and the relegation zone, and they grabbed it with both hands.

Jordan Pickford was in excellent shape for Everton at Arsenal on Saturday and his England teammate Henderson produced another fine goalkeeping performance, with his saves from Dunk and Enciso.

To go with their solid defence, Glasner will have been pleased to see the pace and creativity with which his side attacked, with former Watford striker Sarr putting in a brilliant performance, the only problem being that bit of bad luck for his own goal. Guehi’s camp, and Nketiah’s failure to convert one-on-one with Verbruggen.

The Eagles have won successive Premier League away matches for the first time since April 2023.

Palace now have two games against Arsenal future. Firstly, they travel to the Emirates in the EFL Cup, before hosting the Gunners next Saturday in the league.

Club reports

Brighton Report | Palace Report

What leaders say

Fabien Hurzeler: “The goals we conceded are too easy. You can’t concede these easy goals. I think we showed a good reaction in the second half, we had big chances but then the match becomes more and more difficult because They become bigger and more compact. It’s difficult but we have to learn from these things and improve.”

Olivier Glasner: “All credit goes to the players. We defended compactly, we didn’t give them many situations. They changed their system and we struggled to put pressure on the ball. In this phase we had Needed Dean Henderson who made two or three big saves The 3-0 was the moment that decided the game for us and it was a very positive performance.

“We knew that if we were patient we would get better performances. Some players were not fit, new signings, but we didn’t want to talk about it and were looking for excuses. We are more and more confident in the way which we want to play.”

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Key facts

Marc Guehi scored his second own goal of the season here, with no Crystal Palace player having ever scored as many in a Premier League campaign for the Eagles. It was also only the second own goal scored in the history of this match in the competition, after Joachim Anderson in January 2022.

Brighton have kept just one clean sheet in their last 14 Premier League matches against Crystal Palace (W4 D6 L4), while the Seagulls have won just one of their last ten league matches against teams from London (2 draws, 7 defeats).

Crystal Palace beat Brighton for the first time since February 2021, ending a six-game winless run in the Premier League against them (D4 L2). Each of the Eagles’ last three Premier League wins against them have now come away.