Expand the parameters of your search a little further, however, and you’ll come across a rather unique result, on this day in 1940: a 10-0 win over Brighton & Hove Albion.
While wartime results do not count towards the official record – and hence, the former will always be cited rather than the latter – the margin of the victory was remarkably not much of an outlier.
While the 1939/40 season started in regular fashion, it was abandoned after just three games, with Palace – after 5-4 and 3-0 wins over Mansfield Town and Bristol Rovers respectively, as well as a 5-0 defeat to Reading – sitting seventh in Division Three South.
In its stead were formed the Wartime Regional Leagues, with Palace placed – along with most of the other capital city sides, plus Norwich, Southend and Brighton – in the London South ‘A’ Division.
Designed to sustain national morale, competitions were organised which ran for various lengths of time ranging from a few weeks to a number of months, or on occasion concurrently.
As was the case in World War One, with many footballers signed up to fight, a ‘guest’ system was in operation, with teams changing substantially from week to week and admittedly giving well-situated clubs a distinct advantage; Palace were cited as having fielded some 186 different players, with 54 goalscorers, across seven wartime seasons.
Amidst admittedly rather modest competition, Palace ran away with the 1939/40 London South ‘A’ Division, winning 13 of 18 games, scoring 64 – including the aforementioned 10 on this day over eight decades ago.
The match formed Palace’s fifth straight win, with an excerpt from the London Daily News providing some context: “The performance of Crystal Palace, though highly creditable as an evidence of good marksmanship, was made easier because Brighton suffered from the non-arrival of Stephens, their outside-left.
“The only available player being Clifford (a local man registered with Northampton), this goalkeeper was called on and Mee placed on the wing. Clifford was beaten five times in the opening half and when Mee took his place he, too, had an unhappy time.”
Two Palace players scored hat-tricks: Bill Bark and Bert Robson, the latter being Palace’s top scorer in World War Two with 114 goals in 182 games.
The record also shows goals for Gregory, Smith, Wilson and Blackman in what was, unofficially, Crystal Palace’s biggest-ever win.
And it had to be against Brighton, of course.