Ismaila Sarr leads Crystal Palace to triumph against Brighton

In an exciting duel at the Amex Stadium, Crystal Palace secured a 3-1 victory against local rivals Brighton & Hove Albion. The match-winner was Ismaila Sarr, whose brace brought the Seagulls to their knees and handed them their first home defeat in this year's Premier League season. For Crystal Palace, this success marked their fifth unbeaten league appearance in a row, moving them up to 15th place in the table. The Eagles now have 16 points from as many games and have put four points between themselves and a possible relegation spot, which Ipswich Town in 18th place fears. The defeat caused Brighton to slip to ninth place in the table, with 24 points and trailing four points behind fourth place, currently held by Nottingham Forest. Palace coach Oliver Glasner expressed his great satisfaction to Sky Sports after the game: "We are looking forward and focusing on our performance. It was a very important game for us and our fans - the best Christmas present we could give them." In the early stages, Kaoru Mitoma almost put the hosts in the lead, but Palace goalkeeper Dean Henderson brilliantly denied the chance. The visitors eventually took the lead through Trevoh Chalobah in the 27th minute, as he capitalized on a failed clearance by the Brighton defense following a corner from Will Hughes. Sarr soon increased the lead to 2-0 for Palace, after heading home a magical pass from Tyrick Mitchell. The VAR disallowed Daniel Munoz's goal due to a prior foul by Sarr. Sarr again put the finishing touch for Palace with his second goal of the game, while Brighton could only manage a consolation through an own goal by Marc Guehi in the 87th minute. Brighton coach Fabian Huerzeler summarized the defeat resignedly: "We conceded the goals too easily and did not take our chances - a bitter experience from which we must learn.