Palace team news: Pattinson suspended

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Albion face Palace in the WSL on Sunday.

Charlie Hanson

2024-10-11T10:00+01:00

Poppy Pattinson will miss Sunday's game against Palace. 📷 by Kyle Hemsley.

Our women’s first team will look to secure their third win of the WSL season as they take on Crystal Palace on Sunday, kick-off 2pm.

The match – that takes place at VBS Community Stadium – will be free to watch on the WSL’s official YouTube channel.

Team news

Dario Vidosic speaks to the media ahead of Brighton's visit to Crystal Palace in the WSL.

Speaking in his press conference on Friday morning, Dario Vidosic said, "Poppy Pattinson is suspended for this weekend, but we've got a solution. We'll probably get Marisa [Olislagers] to go into the left-back role.

"We'll find a few tweaks in there and how we can still play our football, but maybe in a little bit of a different way this weekend."

View from the head coach

On Crystal Palace: "They're getting better and better every week. I think that's normal after a team gets promoted. They're going to need a couple games to find their rhythm, to get used to the league and the opponents and the different questions, but I thought they were very good last weekend [against Leicester City].

They're building, they're getting better and better - it's going to be a very tough game. We know it's a derby as well, so that just adds an extra edge to the game, but we're excited for it.

"It was the first game I was told about when I arrived, so you have to love a derby week and a derby game, so I'm really looking forward to Sunday."

The hosts

Palace are playing their debut campaign in the WSL, following their promotion from the Championship last season. While they only finished a point clear of second place Charlton Athletic, Laura Kaminski’s team scored 22 more goals than any other team in the division.

A baptism of fire awaited the Eagles though, as they were beaten 4-0 by Tottenham in their opening game, which was followed by a 7-0 defeat to Chelsea. Palace showed their resilience though and secured their first win in the top-tier with a 2-0 victory over Leicester City last Sunday.

Flick Gibbons spent five years with Albion. 📷 by Malcolm Bryce.

In their ranks are former Albion players Felicity Gibbons and Jorja Fox. Gibbons spent five years with Albion, helping us reach the WSL in 2018, while Fox spent the 2022/23 season with us on loan from Chelsea.

Facts and stats

This will be the first meeting between the two teams since Albion beat Palace 3-0 in the FA Cup fifth during the 2019-20 season
Albion won both of their league games against newly promoted opposition last season, beating Bristol City at home and 7-3 on the road
Albion have won two of their three games in the WSL this season, as many victories as they had across their final 11 league matches last term
Palace lost their first ever WSL home game 7-0 against Chelsea last month, the most goals ever conceded across a team's first two home matches in the competition is eight by Aston Villa in 2020
Nikita Parris scored her first WSL goal for Albion last time out against Aston Villa on her first league start for the club - the striker has now scored for five different clubs in the WSL (Everton, Man City, Arsenal and Man United) with only Lucy Staniforth (6) netting for more different sides in the competition