Palace team news: Gomez returns but Ayari ruled out

Main Club Sponsor

TICKETS

SHOP

2026-02-05T09:45+00:00

Diego Gomez is back in contention for Sunday's game against Crystal Palace. 📷Paul Hazlewood

Albion take on Crystal Palace at the Amex on Sunday, kick-off 2pm.

Team news

At his pre-match press conference on Thursday head coach Fabian Hurzeler confirmed that Diego Gomez will be available but Yasin Ayari misses out with a shoulder injury. "It's not a major issue but Yasin won't be an option on Sunday," said Hurzeler. Mats Wieffer is still sidelined by a toe injury but Hurzeler says he is "not far" from returning to action.

Palace are set to be without Cheick Doucoure and Justin Devenny for the game, while Daichi Kamada is set to be assessed. Adam Wharton will be available after serving a one-game suspension.

Their last line-up

The Palace ❤️💙 pic.twitter.com/84q6ZCFwmF
— Crystal Palace F.C. (@CPFC) February 1, 2026

Palace drew 1-1 with Nottingham Forest on Sunday. Morgan Gibbs-White opening the scoring early on, before Ismaïla Sarr equalised.

Match facts

Albion have won just two of their last 13 Premier League games against Crystal Palace (D7 L4), though both victories in that time have come at home.

Palace have won two of their last three Premier League games against Brighton (D1), as many as they had in the previous 12 (D6 L4).

Since the start of December, only Wolves (6) and Burnley (5) have won fewer points in the Premier League than both Brighton and Crystal Palace (9 each), with the Eagles also having the joint-worst goal difference in that time (minus 10 – scored 8, conceded 18).

Albion have won just one of their last four Premier League matches when going ahead (D1 L2), having gone on to win nine of their previous 11 games when leading beforehand (D2). They have gone ahead but failed to win in each of their last two (D1 L1), never previously doing so in three in a row in the competition.

Crystal Palace are winless in nine Premier League matches (D3 L6), last going 10+ games without a victory between January and March 2023 (12).

Since MD16 – the start of Crystal Palace’s nine game winless Premier League run – the Eagles have scored the fewest goals (5) and underperformed their xG by just over eight goals (13.3 xG), the worst differential in the league. The second-worst in this time is Brighton (9 goals, 13.5 xG, -4.5).

In the last two seasons, the only ever-present clubs to lose fewer home Premier League games than Brighton (4) are Liverpool and Arsenal (3 each), with the Seagulls losing just two of their last 20 at the Amex (W10 D8), both against Aston Villa (0-3 in April 2025, 3-4 in December 2025).

Only Jean-Philippe Mateta (10) has more goals in all competitions for Crystal Palace in 2025-26 than Ismaila Sarr (9) – he also scored two and assisted another on his last appearance at the Amex in December 2024 in a 3-1 Palace win.

James Milner could equal Gareth Barry’s Premier League record for appearances in this game, with Milner one behind Barry’s 653-game total. Although they would be level for games played, Milner has played 14,031 fewer minutes in the competition currently than Barry clocked up in his 653 games.

Pascal Gross became the first Brighton player to score under all four of their Premier League managers with his goal against Everton on MD24 (10 in 63 for Chris Hughton, 10 in 98 for Graham Potter, 10 in 67 for Roberto de Zerbi, 1 in 5 for Fabian Hurzeler). The only other player to score under 100% of a team’s managers in the Premier League – having played under at least four – is Peter Ndlovu at Coventry City (Bobby Gould, Phil Neal, Ron Atkinson, Gordon Strachan).

Match officials