Unlikely rivals Crystal Palace and Brighton will contest their third Premier League derby when the side's meet on the south coast on Tuesday evening.
Palace claimed the bragging rights last term, edging a Selhurst Park thriller 3-2 in April after the teams had shared a goalless draw at the Amex Stadium before the turn of the year.
A double from Wilfried Zaha helped clinch Palace's first top flight victory over the Seagulls, and set Palace on course to finish above their rivals despite a horror start to the campaign which left them without a point after seven games.
Again, Brighton have been faster out of the blocks this term and boast a six-point lead on Palace. But Roy Hodgson's men arrive on the south coast following two positive results and, despite the manager's unwillingness to suggest it, appear to have turned a corner.
Where, though, does the rivalry stem from? They are far from local rivals and there are no historical or industrial links between the two. Regular duels in the third division in the 1950s added spice to their meetings, but the hostility can be traced back to an FA Cup tie in the 1970s, and it has been building ever since.
Mullery vs Venables
The rivalry itself is a relatively young one, with no animosity between the two until the appointments of managers Alan Mullery and Terry Venables at Brighton and Palace, respectively.
With both bosses in place, the two sides met five time across the 1976-77 season, twice in the league and three times in the FA Cup, with Palace going undefeated against their new rivals across all five, winning twice and drawing three.
The third of those FA Cup ties, at Stamford Bridge, saw Mullery well and truly spark the rivalry as, in front of the Palace fans, he threw around £5 of change onto the floor and shouted “You’re not worth that, Palace,” before being dragged away by police.
"As I was walking up the tunnel," Mullery later told the Guardian, "a load of boiling hot coffee was thrown over me by a Crystal Palace supporter.
"So I pulled a handful of change out of my pocket, threw it on the floor and shouted, 'That's all you're worth, Crystal Palace!' And I'd shout it at anybody who did that."
During Mullery’s reign on the south coast, Brighton changed their nickname from the Dolphins to the Seagulls, and began a chant mirroring the ‘Eagles’ chorus often heard in south London. Whether or not it was a direct copy from Selhurst Park is up for debate, however, it’s just another detail which causes frustration for Palace fans.
Behind enemy lines
In the summer of 1982 the peculiar decision was made to appoint Mullery as Crystal Palace manager, having spent a year at Charlton between the two clubs.
It was a decision which riled Palace fans, with many turning their back on the club and attendances plummeting.
Things got worse when, in Mullery’s second term - having battled relegation in the first - the Eagles faced Brighton twice and suffered defeat on both occasions.
Mullery left Selhurst Park for QPR in 1984, where he replaced Venables.
Hughton vs Ryan
Henry Hughton, brother of now Brighton boss Chris, played over 100 games for Palace in the 1980s, but is perhaps best remembered for one unsavoury moment in a clash with the Seagulls.
After Mullery’s departure, former Manchester United winger Steve Coppell was appointed boss in south London. His first season saw a 1-0 away defeat to Brighton, however, the home tie ramped up the rivalry more than anyone would have imagined.
During a 1-1 draw at Selhurst Park, Hughton dived in for a challenge on Brighton’s Gerry Ryan, breaking his leg in three places and ultimately ending the Irishman’s playing career.
"We used to call them 'Pal-arse'," recalled Ryan recently in The Times. And plenty of fans still do.
Behind enemy lines 2.0
After a stuttering start to the 2002/03 season, and seemingly not learning from Crystal Palace’s mistake many years earlier, the Seagulls appointed Coppell as manager.
No too long after taking the role, Coppell made a return to Selhurst Park with the Eagles’ arch rivals, despite receiving a warm reception from the fans, the players were not so hospitable.
Andy Johnson scored a hat-trick in a 5-0 hammering of Brighton and sent Coppell back to the south coast facing accusations that he broke capitulated intentionally on his old stomping ground.
Coppell’s Brighton were relegated that season and the former Palace boss left the club for Reading, where he took them to the Premier League with a Championship points record.
Surprise
After six years in separate divisions, Brighton joined Crystal Palace in the Championship for the 2011/12 season. The Seagulls their moved to a new stadium in Falmer and welcomed Palace to the ground in late September with an unbeaten home record in the league.
The hosts led until the 80th minute, but former Brighton man Glenn Murray sealed a 3-1 comeback win for Palace after late goals from Wilfried Zaha and Darren Ambrose.
However, it was not until the following year that things would really heat up once more.
The two sides finished in the Play-Off spots in the second tier and, with Brighton finishing fourth and Palace fifth, were to meet in the semi-finals.
After a 0-0 draw at Selhurst Park in which Murray suffered cruciate injury, it all came down to the decider at Brighton’s new Amex Stadium. Arriving for the second-leg the travelling players were greeted with a peculiar surprise in the away changing room.
Former Palace man, Danny Gabbidon, told The Times: “We thought it was a dirty tactic from someone at Falmer [Amex] Stadium.
“One of the first things players do when they get to a stadium is go to the toilet in the dressing room and on this occasion, in May 2013, I heard a bit of shouting.
“I got up to see what the commotion was about and saw excrement all over the toilet floor. It was unpleasant.
“Ian Holloway, our manager, was not happy and he hardly had to say much before the Championship play-off, second leg, as the incident gave us all the motivation. We were fired up. I don’t recall anyone cleaning it up. We got on with the game.”
But Palace were undeterred and sunk their rivals to progress to Wembley thanks to two late goals from Zaha in front of the travelling support. The Eagles went on to gain promotion and have remained in the Premier League ever since.
Asked recently to place his hatred for Brighton on a scale of 1-10, Zaha responded: "11."
