7 hours ago
10
Fabian Hürzeler must be wondering when he will have another chance to get one over Oliver Glasner. The Brighton head coach’s record against his Crystal Palace counterpart, and someone he counts as a mentor, now reads three defeats and a draw after Ismaila Sarr ended Palace’s 12-match winless run in the league, in satisfying style against their archrivals.
While Glasner can breathe slightly more easily after his new big-money signings Evann Guessand and Jørgen Strand Larsen made an impact on their debuts, Hürzeler left the field to widespread boos from his own fans and chants of: “You’re getting sacked in the morning”.
It is now only one win in Brighton’s past 12 league games and the German who became the youngest manager in Premier League history when he was appointed in 2024 is facing the real possibility of being dragged into a relegation battle after slipping below Palace in the table.
Glasner has already confirmed he will leave Palace in the summer, while television cameras at the final whistle showed the Brighton owner, Tony Bloom, looking far from impressed with his side’s performance and Hürzeler could also find himself looking for a new club if this carries on much longer.
“It’s not an easy situation to take but I will absorb the criticism,” Hürzeler said. “I think it’s the hardest moment [of my career], but it’s also the moment where I try to get the most out of it, where I learn the most and I grow the most. I will face this adversity and I will get through it.”
Brighton’s issue has been an inability to finish teams off and as a consequence have slid down the table since beating Nottingham Forest in November. They once again lacked ruthlessness against opponents who had not won a game of any sort since mid‑December and were grateful to bring an end to their own poor run of form.
“It’s a mix between relief and happiness,” Glasner said.
“Our fans had plenty of opportunities to boo us in the last month, but they never did. So I think this is the bond we created in the last two years between the fans and the team. They were disappointed, and we were disappointed. But they never booed us.”
While James Milner will have to wait at least another week to match Gareth Barry’s Premier League appearance record, the 17‑year‑old Harry Howell impressed as he became the youngest player to start a Premier League game for Brighton. But his fellow teenager Charalampos Kostoulas could not take their best opportunity to equalise after Sarr struck just after the hour following an error from the veteran captain Lewis Dunk.
Strand Larsen could have made the points safe for Palace on his first start since joining from Wolves for a club‑record fee that could rise to £48m as the Norway international proved to be a willing if rusty replacement for Jean‑Philippe Mateta.
An early stray pass that went out for a throw-in was greeted with howls of derision from the home supporters. Will Hughes also received a volley of abuse after picking up his customary yellow card for taking out the pirouetting Georginio Rutter. Dunk headed wide from the resulting free‑kick but other than that Brighton had little to show for dominating possession in the opening half‑hour. Their best chance came when a cross from Kaoru Mitoma was not properly cleared but Maxence Lacroix was able to block Maxim De Cuyper’s shot.
Palace lacked any cohesion in attack and had to wait until almost half-time to even threaten Bart Verbruggen’s goal. Strand Larsen was ready to pounce when a Lacroix flick-on from a Chris Richards throw caused panic in the Brighton area before Olivier Boscagli just beat Sarr to a dangerous cross from Yeremy Pino. The Senegal forward wasted another opportunity just before the break when Adam Wharton pinched the ball off Carlos Baleba in midfield.
Both managers seemed unimpressed with the lethargic way that their sides started the second half and Glasner wasted no time introducing Guessand for his Palace debut after joining on loan from Aston Villa. It did not take long for the Ivory Coast forward to announce himself – a loose header from Dunk was seized upon and Sarr’s finish found the top corner via a deflection off Verbruggen’s face. The Palace captain, Dean Henderson, showed his delight by performing a knee slide in celebration.
The England goalkeeper then denied Kostoulas with his legs when he was played in by Rutter and that was the closest Brighton came to scoring. Strand Larsen had two chances to put the game out of reach, but was denied twice by Verbruggen’s legs. Brighton looked devoid of ideas, with one supporter letting his frustration get the better of him. “It just gets shitter and shitter,” he shouted in Hurzeler’s direction as another attack broke down. Even the announcement of six minutes of injury time for the hosts to try to rescue a point barely raised a murmur from the home supporters who seemed resigned to their fate.
