Crystal Palace make the journey South to face rivals Brighton and Hove Albion, as they look to finally put in a top performance for a full ninety minutes after they were punished at Lyon on Thursday night.

Following the 3-2 defeat to the French side, Pierre Sage once again aired frustration with his side's inability to put in a strong performance for the full game. 

Looking ahead to Brighton, Sage showed a clear understanding of just how important this game is for the Palace fans. 

He also praised the work that Fabian Hurzeler is doing, with Brighton coming into the game 3rd in the Premier League.

Here’s everything you may have missed from Sage’s pre-Brighton press conference. 

Sage was first asked about the fitness of his squad, with the current crop of absentees once again missing the game in midweek. 

Dean Henderson hasn’t featured much this season after sustaining an injury in Palace’s final pre-season friendly. 

“For the moment I don’t know because we will train after the press conference. That’s where we have to evaluate his chance to come back in the team. It’s the same for the other players. I prefer to wait until after the sessions, we hope, we expect but we don’t know.”

That means we could yet have to wait to see the likes of Henderson, Jean-Philippe Mateta, Takehiro Tomiyasu and Ben Chilwell, as well as long term miss Chadi Riad. 

It wasn’t quite the homecoming that Sage would have hoped for, as Palace put in another underwhelming first half performance. Nottingham Forest failed to punish them in the last Premier League outing. Lyon didn’t. 

The French sides went into the break two goals to the good, and despite a strong second forty five minutes from Palace, they had left themselves with too much to do. 

“We gave all the initiative to Lyon and when we are in this situation it’s really tough for us because we don’t attack too much, we defend a lot and we struggle. I was frustrated with the result because our reaction was positive, but it was too late.”

“We just have to put together all of the conditions to start well and to make a good game in the whole of this one [Brighton]. I think we are able to do it, we did it in Leeds and now we are in this situation, we are aware of what’s happened in the last two games, one was a good result, the other was a bad result, but in each game when we play, when we are 100% on what we have to do in our game plan I think we are able to do really wonderful things. When we are not like this, it’s another story, a bad story.”

The comments from both Tyrick Mitchell and Quinten Timber were a clear indication that the ideas from the manager are not the issue, but in fact the execution from the players on the pitch is causing the shortfalls. 

“To apply our principle, to apply it correctly is the objective, we have to keep in mind that we are able to do it, we have to be confident with that, we have to take the initiative and we have to fight in bad moments to switch things in a good way,” Sage explained. 

He also put pressure on his players to maintain the confidence when things go badly, hinting that there may be an issue with the morale of the side when goals are conceded. 

“Somtimes we fall, but the most important thing when you fall is to stand up as soon as you can, the ball after, and we have to be better in our mental stamina. To keep in mind what we really want to do on the pitch and to be able to switch quickly when the bad things come, that’s our fight at the moment.”

This weekend, Sage will take part in his first English rivalry, and he has made a huge effort to educate himself on the rivalry and was vocal about the importance of the fixture for the fans and the club. 

“We know it’s a big game, for the club and our fans, and we have to show our better face, I think that face is one of the two second halves in our previous games.”

The travelling Palace fans will certainly be hopeful for a fast start, but the stats going into the game don’t particularly flatter Palace. 

Brighton have registered the second most shots in the league, the most shots on target and accumulated the highest expected goals too, as well as the most big chances. 

For Palace, those numbers aren’t quite as flattering. Sage’s side have faced the most shots, second most shots on target and have the highest expected goals against, facing the fourth most big chances. 

On those numbers alone, and the form that Albion have been in this season, it could be a tough afternoon for Palace. However, form tends to go out of the window in this fixture, and Palace will be hoping to avoid defeat at the AMEX for the third consecutive season. 

“We understand this team has started the season really well…but every game is a new history and we have to write a good history on Sunday.”

“We have to be aware that they are in good shape and we have to be in better shape to rivalise in this game. We just have to be aware that this game is special, and when the game is special you have to be special too.”

Sage was asked about Palace’s recent form against Albion, and was keen to make it clear that each game is different, repeating his mantra from earlier in the week. 

He was successful in two of the three derby games he played with Lyon against St Etienne, and referenced the success in those games and where he draws that motivation from. 

“The most important thing is to understand the history, the context, why it’s like this and how important it is for the club and the fans. When you play for all these things I think you can win these kinds of games. You have to be careful because when you are too active in your head sometimes you will do bad, you have to keep in mind it’s football, you need energy, you need fighting spirit, it’s a clever game, the tactical side of play is really important too.”