Palace team news: Veltman returns to the squad

Main Club Sponsor

TICKETS

SHOP

Albion head to Selhurst Park on Sunday.

2025-11-07T06:00+00:00

Joel Veltman returns to the squad after missing the last five matches.

Albion head to Selhurst Park on Sunday to take on Crystal Palace in the Premier League, kick off 2pm. Both teams go into the fixture on the back of good league results last week when Albion beat Leeds 3-0 and Palace defeated Brentford 2-0.

Team news

Fabian Hurzeler provided an update at his pre-match media conference. He said, “I need a list at the moment as there are quite a lot! But we start always with the positive. So, after the game against Leeds we have no new injury concerns and Joel Veltman will be back as an option so that's a positive.

"Kaoru Mitoma is very close to be an option so that's a positive. The negatives are that Jack Hinshelwood, James Milner and Brajan Gruda will miss the game.

Asked what the likelihood of Mitoma being involved was percentage wise he added, “It's a 50-50. We will see how he does in the training sessions but we’re certainly not ruling him out for Palace.”

Fabian on the rivalry with Palace

“I understood it from the first second and I think it's a big responsibility we have, not only for us but for the whole club to give something back and especially for our supporters. We have to promise to never give up. We have to promise to put the most effort we can into this game and try to do everything to win. In the end, you can't promise wins but you can promise that you leave your heart on the pitch. That is what we try to do on Sunday.”

Stats and facts

Palace won both Premier League meetings with Brighton last season, as many times as they’d beaten them in their previous 12 (D6 L4).

Albion are winless in six Premier League away games against Crystal Palace (D5 L1). They lost this exact fixture 2-1 last season but haven’t lost at the Eagles in consecutive campaigns since 1985-86/1986-87.

Both teams have scored in all eight Premier League meetings between Crystal Palace and Brighton at Selhurst Park – only Wolves at home to Newcastle (10) has been played more without either side keeping a clean sheet in the competition.

Crystal Palace have 16 points in 10 Premier League matches this season (W4 D4 L2), an improvement of nine points on last season’s tally at this stage (7). It’s their most at this stage of a top-flight campaign since 1991-92 (17).

After a 13-game winless Premier League run away from home against London teams between December 2023 and April 2025, Albion have won their last two in the capital. Only once before have they won three in a row in the competition, doing so between April and August 2022.

Crystal Palace haven’t lost any of their last 11 Premier League matches at Selhurst Park (W6 D5), the longest ongoing home unbeaten run in the division. Only between February and December 1990 have they had a longer run without losing at home in the top-flight (17 games).

Brighton limited Leeds to an xG of just 0.5 on MD10, their lowest xG faced in a Premier League game since February against Southampton (0.11), winning 3-0 against the Whites. The Seagulls haven’t kept two clean sheets in a row since February.

Nine of Jean-Philippe Mateta’s last 10 Premier League goals have been scored in London, with the Frenchman netting four in his last two at Selhurst Park. He has six goals in 10 games this season, with only Andrew Johnson in 2004-05 (7) ever scoring more in Crystal Palace’s opening 10 matches of a Premier League season.

In the last two seasons, the only Englishman to outscore Danny Welbeck (16) in the Premier League is Ollie Watkins (17). The Brighton forward has netted six goals in his last five appearances – only Erling Haaland has more (7) in this timeframe (27 September onwards).

Brighton’s Yankuba Minteh has been involved in 14 Premier League goals in his last two seasons (7 goals, 7 assists), the most of any player currently aged 21 or younger in the competition.

Match officials