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Crystal Palace beat Nottingham Forest 3-1 at Selhurst Park, coming from behind to give Pierre Sage his first home league win. Dan Ndoye scored for Forest after three minutes and they had sixteen first-half shots, but a point-blank save by Palace's stand-in keeper Walter Benitez from Liam Delap turned the game. Daichi Kamada equalised in the 41st minute for his first Premier League goal, Jefferson Lerma headed in on the stroke of half-time, and Yeremy Pino ended a 19-match goal drought in the 59th. It was an awkward afternoon for Oliver Glasner, back at the club he led to three trophies, and it's Palace's first league win over Forest at the 13th attempt. Palace climb to 12th, with Forest two points behind in 14th.
Pre-match Talking Points
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1Matchweek 6, and neither side can afford a shrug. Forest sit 12th on 6 points, Palace 14th on 5, so this is a game where the winner gets to breathe and the loser starts checking how far away the bottom three is. Both are hunting only their second win of the season, which tells you how the autumn has gone so far.
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2The last three Premier League meetings between these two all finished 1-1, so a draw is the safe pub bet. Palace haven't beaten Forest since a Championship game at the City Ground back in December 2011. If someone says Palace are due, politely remind them it has been a while.
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3Watch Morgan Gibbs-White for Forest. He leads the league in big chances created with five, which is a stat you can drop into conversation as proof that you have been paying attention. If Forest score today, there is a decent chance he laid it on a plate for someone.
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4The subplot is the injury list. Palace are without Jean-Philippe Mateta and Dean Henderson, and Axel Disasi is suspended after his red card against Ipswich. Forest have their own problems, with Nikola Milenkovic expected to miss this one and Igor Jesus out for around a month. Plenty of patched-up back lines, then.
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5The hook is Oliver Glasner, who returns to Selhurst Park for the first time as Forest boss, facing the club he used to run. Expect a warm welcome from some, and a less warm one from others. Forest also failed to score in four home games this season, so he will want goals from somewhere.
Team Talking Points
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1Palace go into the international break bottom of the Premier League after a 3-1 home defeat to Liverpool on Sunday. Eddie Nketiah's stoppage-time penalty was a consolation, not a comeback. Being bottom in November isn't fatal, but it is the sort of thing fans prefer you don't mention first.
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2Manager Pierre Sage is under serious pressure, and the reports this week say his time could be up. Former Brentford and Spurs boss Thomas Frank is the bookies' favourite to replace him, with The Telegraph naming him as the frontrunner. Nothing's official yet, so 'I hear Frank's in the frame' sounds well-informed, while 'Sage has gone' might be a bit premature.
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3This slump has been building. A 5-0 hammering by Brighton a few weeks ago is the result Palace fans really don't want to relive, mostly because it was Brighton, their fiercest rivals. If you bring it up, expect a long stare.
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4There were glimmers against Liverpool. Jørgen Strand Larsen had a goal chalked off for offside by VAR and Yeremy Pino hit the crossbar, so it wasn't a total surrender. Palace fans will tell you the margins have gone against them, and on Sunday they had a point.
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5Don't forget this is the club that won the FA Cup in 2025, their first major trophy ever. Going from Wembley glory to the bottom of the table in about 18 months is a very Premier League kind of whiplash. Mention the Cup win and you'll cheer up any Palace fan instantly.
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Top thing to say down the pub
Whoever ends up in the Palace dugout, the first job is just stopping the leaks. They're not as bad as the table says, but they're getting close.
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Avoid saying
"Just bring Roy Hodgson back again" — it's been said as a joke so many times that Palace fans have stopped laughing, and the man has done his bit for the club twice over already.
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1Forest go into the international break on a high after beating Manchester City 3-1 at the City Ground last Saturday. It was their first home league win of the season, and it lifted them out of the relegation zone to around 16th.
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2Liam Delap scored twice, and he came through City's academy, so beating his old club was extra sweet. Jair Cunha opened the scoring after six minutes. Cunha also cleared an Erling Haaland shot off the line, which is the sort of thing defenders tell their grandchildren about.
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3Before Saturday, Forest had gone almost six months without scoring a goal at home. Six months. Mention that to a Forest fan now and they'll laugh, because it no longer hurts.
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4Manager Oliver Glasner said changes were needed after the previous defeat to Brentford, and he made them. Ryan Yates got his first start of the season and was reportedly behind a rousing team talk before kick-off. An academy lad firing up the dressing room is exactly the kind of story Forest fans love.
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5The job now is to stay up. One big win doesn't fix a season, and the bottom of the table is very crowded. Still, beating the team that had won seven in a row at the start of the season does wonders for belief.
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Top thing to say down the pub
Six months without a home goal, then three against Man City. Forest really don't do things the easy way.
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Avoid saying
"Forest are a big club, they'll be fine." Two European Cups is a great history, but it scores no goals, as six goalless months at home proved. Fans know a relegation scrap when they see one, and they don't want it waved away.