Analysis: Here's how Brighton and Hove Albion can exploit and beat Crystal Palace

Palace's strengths

Palace have been a mix bag so far this season, producing a good win and performance away at United (3-1), a good performance but a loss against a strong Everton side (2-1), and then absolute capitulation against Chelsea (4-0) in their most recent Premier League fixture.

The south London team's talisman is Wilfred Zaha, who has scored three of Palace's five league goals this season. All three of the Ivorian's goals have come inside the box while playing as a striker in a 4-4-2 system. And he has averaged close to a 7 out of 10 rating so far this campaign, according to WhoScored.com.

If Brighton can stop Zaha and the service into him, then this game should be Graham Potter's for the taking.

Palace will sit deep in their 4-4-2 formation and look to play Zaha in behind, so Brighton should be wary if they are going to play a high line in order to deny the striker space to run into.

The two other attacking threats are Andros Townsend and his whipped in deliveries, and Cheikou Kouyate's aerial presence in the oppostion's box.

Palace will look to take the lead and sit back and hit Brighton on the counter - they have scored four of their five goals this season when the scoreline was level or when they were one goal in front. So it is a must for Brighton to not concede first, otherwise it could be a frustrating battle to claw themselves back into the game against Roy Hodgson's low-block.

Palace's weaknesses

The good news for Brighton fans is that Palace have a lot of weaknesses.

The first one is their 4-4-2 system. As mentioned in previous articles, Pep Guardiola has said before about how there is a 'need to fill the centre of the pitch in order to play having numerical superiority'. Brighton play 3-5-2, so they will have the numerical advantage in the middle.

When Chelsea and Everton beat Palace, they both played a 4-3-3 in attack, reverting to a 4-5-1 in defence, which meant they also had numerical superiority with five midfielders against Palace's four.

Saying this, Palace do drop Jordan Ayew back in to help out the midfield, but Hodgson's team's average positioning looks as though it's a 6-4 formation with a large space in the middle where a tight-knit midfield should be - other teams have dominated this gap when looking at players' average positioning stat maps.

Both Everton and Chelsea's strengths when they beat Palace, according to WhoScored.com, were that they both dominated possession and played down the wings, which is exactly how Brighton play.

Kouyate and Sakho have also got errors in them, both giving away silly penalties so far this season. And Palace as a whole, according to WhoScored.com, often lose possession and give a lot of free-kicks away around the box.

They are also bad at keeping possession, and defending against long shots and set-pieces.

How can Brighton exploit Palace?

As mentioned, Brighton's 3-5-2 system will give them superiority.

Tariq Lamptey will once again be a key man for Brighton. Potter will, as he has done in each game Lamptey has played, unleash the rapid youngster in behind the opposition's full-backs. The Englishman will be tasked with providing good service for Neal Maupay and to link up with Leandro Trossard.

Brighton should dominate possession as they normally look to do under Potter, with the Seagulls playing almost double the amount of passes (1,074) than Palace (594) have this season.

With all of this possession, it will be important for Brighton to be patient on the ball and unpick the packed Palace defence when the opportunity arises; instead of becoming frantic, giving the ball away in the middle of the park and being hit on the counter, like they did against Everton,

This is why Trossard will also be a key player today, it will be his job to unlock the Palace defensive block and provide the necessary pausa - an Argentinian phrase for the moment of calm before the decisive pass - to give Maupay good chances to score, which he has been capitalising on so far this season.

Also, pressing from Aaron Connolly, Maupay, Trossard could prove fruitful, with Brighton good at winning the ball back from the opposition and Palace known for giving the ball away easily and conceding fouls in dangerous areas - don't be surprised if Brighton get a penalty today.

Just to add, Brighton may also look to exploit Palace at set-pieces with Lewis Dunk's aerial presence in the oppostion box, and also Yves Bissouma's eye for a long-shot could come in handy here today.

Prediction: Brighton 2-1

Scorers: Maupay x2, Zaha

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