First half Brighton flurry sinks Palace as pressure mounts on Hodgson

It’s hard to imagine how this could have gone any worse for Roy Hodgson. As the Crystal Palace manager watched his side being dismantled by their bitter rivals with boos from the away end ringing in his ears, the former England manager cut a disconsolate figure on the touchline.

Having fallen behind to Lewis Dunk’s early header, the Premier League’s oldest ever manager was left fearing for his future again as Jack Hinshelwood and Facundo Buonanotte scored quick-fire goals to record Brighton’s biggest win in this fixture since they were promoted in 2017.

The disgruntled visiting supporters once more took aim at chairman Steve Parish, who watched on in horror as new signing Adam Wharton gave the ball away for the third goal and then Michael Olise picked up another injury minutes after being introduced off the bench to join Eberechi Eze and captain Marc Guehi on the treatment table.

Some Palace fans were heading for the exits as the ball hit the back of the net for the third goal, with a banner first seen during the 5-0 annihilation against Arsenal a fortnight ago given another airing. “No shared vision. No structured plan. Parish out. Yanks out.” Palace’s chairman cut a sheepish figure as the TV cameras cut to him in the directors’ box. But for Hodgson, who will need no reminding that his predecessor Patrick Vieira was sacked after losing 1-0 here back in March, this was undoubtedly a new low despite Jean-Philippe Mateta grabbing a consolation before João Pedro rounded off the rout for Roberto De Zerbi’s side.

His 76-year-old counterpart had hinted that the hamstring injury which forced Eze to limp off in midweek would cause him to miss their trip to the south coast, with the England midfielder having been sent for a scan on Friday. But the decision to start with Olise on the bench as a precaution as he returns from injury ended up backfiring spectacularly, while new signing Daniel Muñoz struggled after being thrown in at the deep end following his arrival this week.

De Zerbi’s response to their 4-0 thrashing against Luton was to make four changes, including a first start since the end of November for Tariq Lamptey. It was his first foray down the left flank that led to the corner from which Dunk was given the freedom of Falmer to head home a pinpoint cross from Pascal Gross.

The Brighton manager was shown a yellow card after expressing his disappointment when Munoz appeared to handle the ball outside the area when the Colombia defender went to ground with Pedro lurking dangerously.

Hodgson, who saw his side concede within 20 seconds against Sheffield United before coming back to win 3-2 on Tuesday in a match that was billed as do or die, could not hide his frustration as Palace struggled against opponents who clearly had a point to prove after going three league games without scoring. There was far more pain to come.

While this fixture is starting to become one of the Premier League’s more established derbies, it has never been renowned as a goal fest, with four of the previous five having ended in 1-1 draws. But Brighton smelled blood and pushed forward in numbers in search of a second. They almost found it when Buonanotte outjumped the giants in Palace’s defence but could only direct his header at Dean Henderson.

Disaster then struck for the visitors when Guehi was forced off with a knee injury and within five minutes they found themselves three goals down. Tyrick Mitchell was culpable for the second as Hinshelwood showed more desire to connect with Lamptey’s cross before Wharton - on to replace Guehi - gifted possession to Brighton in midfield and Buonanotte rounded off a sweeping move from a Gross assist.

The away support seemed to be back to full capacity for the start of the second half to see Olise enter the action and greeted Palace’s first corner of the match in the 50th minute with ironic cheers. But there was little to smile about when Olise limped off soon afterwards having appeared to injure his hamstring once more.

Palace could have found a way back into the game after Mateta’s consolation had Olise’s replacement Matheus Franca taken his opportunity. But it was Pedro who rounded off an afternoon to savour for the home fans and one to forget for Hodgson, who must now wait to see whether he has performed his last act as Parish made a quick exit after the final whistle.