Brighton player ratings vs Crystal Palace: Four 8s as Albion bounce back with brilliant win over bitter rivals

Looking to bounce back from the miserable 4-0 defeat at Luton, Albion made the perfect start – with captain Lewis Dunk heading in from a corner after two minutes.

The second goal arrived after 33 minutes with another local lad, Jack Hinshelwood, ghosting in at the back-post to head home Tariq Lamptey’s cross.

Straight after the restart, Pascal Gross won the ball back and provided his second assist of the afternoon – an unselfish pass to Facundo Buonanotte, who made no mistake with the finish to spark bedlam among the home fans.

Crystal Palace looked out of sorts and out of ideas without two talismen, Michael Olise and Eberechi Eze.

Olise was only fit enough for the bench but was brought on at half-time. The 22-year-old had to be replaced after just seven minutes – adding further insult to injury for Roy Hodgson. Key defender Marc Guehi was also forced off in the first-half.

Buoyed up by raucous home support, Albion searched for more goals but they were unable to keep a clean sheet.

Jean-Philippe Mateta scored a superb header on the 71st minute when Brighton were coasting and perhaps lost concentration – Roberto De Zerbi would have been frustrated with that.

The Seagulls restored their three-goal advantage through Joao Pedro’s classy finish after a brilliant Danny Welbeck assist.

Here’s how we rated the Brighton players:

Bart Verbruggen – 7: Saved two Schlupp shots after defensive mistakes – the second one was a great stop. Could have done nothing to stop Mateta’s header.

Jan Paul van Hecke – 7: Mostly solid but lost the ball in front of goal and Verbruggen had to save well from Schlupp.

Lewis Dunk – 8: A captain's goal to open the scoring against Brighton's arch-rivals. Didn’t have a huge amount to do defensively but was beaten in the air by Mateta.

Igor Julio – 7: Solid. Comfortable with the ball at his feet. So strong when tackling.

Jack Hinshelwood – 8: A brilliant header to double the hosts’ lead. He picked up some great attacking positions and got his reward. Linked up play well and was good defensively too. A couple of crosses could have been more accurate.

Pascal Groß – 8: Two more assists for the German – perfectly weighted corner and an unselfish pass for Buonanotte after winning the ball back straight from the restart. What a player he is.

Billy Gilmour – 7: Linked up play nicely and was great in possession, on the whole. So classy when he picks the ball up. But the Scottish international was robbed of the ball at 1-0, allowing Schlupp to have a shot on goal. De Zerbi looked a tad frustrated when Gilmour passed the ball back and sideways at times.

Tariq Lamptey – 7: Played in an advanced role on the left, ahead of Igor. It was great to see him start a game once again. He showed what he can bring to this Brighton side, with a dangerous run early on leading to the opening goal. And then his superb cross from the left was begging to be headed in for 2-0 – and it was. Wasteful after good run, should have looked for a pass.

Facundo Buonanotte – 8: Good pressing from the front. Like a dog chasing a ball and was a nightmare for Palace. Header on target from Pedro's cross but perhaps should have done better with it. Exquisite finish into the top corner for 3-0.

Joao Pedro – 8: Of course, the man in-form wouldn’t want to go home without any goal contributions today. A superb piece of play – a one-two with Danny Welbeck – before finishing the ball with such class. The Brazilian linked up play well all afternoon and was unlucky not to have an assist earlier on when his cross was met in the air by Buonanotte.

Evan Ferguson – 6: Nice turn which forced Guehi to pull the Irishman back and get a booking. Trying to hold the ball up. Towering header saved comfortably by Henderson. Very quiet after the break. Just needs a goal to get his confidence flowing again. Replaced by Danny Welbeck at 3-0.

Substitutes:

Danny Welbeck – 7: What a superb piece of skill to set up Joao Pedro for 4-1. Classy player. Welbeck was the only player to pick up a booking for Brighton this afternoon.

Pervis Estupinan – 6: Started on the bench as his game-time is managed after a couple of long-term injuries. Brought some much needed energy when Palace had their best period of the game.

Carlos Baleba – 6: Solid display off the bench, did his individual jobs well.

Ansu Fati – N/A: Probably should have scored in last minute of injury-time but so good to see him back!

Adam Lallana – N/A