Three decades since Palace took part in the very first Premier League opening day, check out the best stats, figures and bits of trivia from the club’s journey since.
Across three decades of Premier League football – the last of which they have been a constant presence in the division – the Eagles have played 503 games, notching up 145 victories.
After the season opener at Selhurst Park on Friday night, they have faced Arsenal more often than any other opposition (27 times), with Nottingham Forest the current Premier League opposition they have encountered the least (4).
The record against Stoke City is the best of any club they have faced 10 times or more, winning 70% of meetings between the sides. Strangely, Swansea City have proved the most frustrating opposition of any to play 10 times or more, winning just 10% of all encounters.
Fancy some even nerdier pub trivia? There are seven clubs Palace have shared just one Premier League season with, and if you can name all of these then you may need to get out more: Portsmouth, Oldham Athletic, Derby County, Charlton Athletic, Brentford, Birmingham City and Barnsley.
Palace have notched up 547 goals in all – not bad going. Fans of West Ham United reading this will remember a fair few of them, because the Eagles have scored more against the Hammers than any other side (31). Their best goal difference comes against West Bromwich Albion (+10).
The club’s first goal was scored by none other than Mark Bright, on the very first Premier League opening day in August 1992. Peculiarly, it was to be his only Premier League goal for the club before leaving for Sheffield Wednesday three weeks later – you can read his memories of the period in more detail HERE.
In the 30 years that have followed, it is no surprise who sits atop the charts. Wilfried Zaha has struck 61 times for the club, almost double the next highest scorer Christian Benteke (35). In third place is Luka Milivojevic, whose reliability from the spot has seen him notch 22 of his 28 Premier League goals.
Chris Armstrong is the highest scoring player from the club’s first spell, hitting the back of the net 23 times between 1992 and 1995.
Despite so many goals and the plethora of scorers, there has been just one hattrick scored in Palace’s Premier League tenure. Yannick Bolasie was the scorer, bagging three times against Sunderland in 2014 – the first top-flight hattrick for the club since Ian Wright’s against Wimbledon in May, 1991.
Selhurst Park was the scene of the club’s largest victory, as they put five past Leicester City in 2018. The highest scoring fixture was a more harrowing affair, as the aforementioned bogey side Swansea scored twice in added time to snatch a 5-4 victory from the jaws of defeat.
A mainstay of the current side, Palace have kept 127 clean sheets in the Premier League.
Their record for most clean sheets in a single campaign was equalled last seson (12), in no small part down to the partnership of Marc Guéhi and Joachim Andersen at the heart of defence.
Indeed, Palace finished the season with six consecutive clean sheets, meaning Gabriel Martinelli’s opener for Arsenal on Friday was the first goal Patrick Vieira’s men had conceded at Selhurst Park in the league since February – a five month shut-out.
Once again, Palace most capped Premier League player comes as no surprise: Wilfried Zaha has lined up 265 times for the club. Second and third are Joel Ward (250) and James McArthur (236) respectively, with those three the only players to break the 200-appearance mark.
The youngest player to don the red and blue is George Ndah, who was just 17 years and 340 days old when he appeared against Liverpool in 1992. However, two of the current crop are near the top of the leaderboard.
Jes Rak-Sakyi is Palace’s fifth youngest debutant, at just 18 years and 313 days old when he played Chelsea on the opening day a year ago. This season saw another young player make their Premier League bow on the opening weekend, with Malcolm Ebiowei becoming the club’s sixth youngest player at 18 years and 335 days old.
The oldest player by some distance is veteran striker Kevin Phillips, the man to fire Palace back into the Premier League from the penalty spot (40 years, 88 days). He pips Julian Speroni to the title, whose last appearance came against Liverpool in January, 2019 at 39 years and 246 days old.
And finally, what an achievement it was for Marc Guéhi, Tyrick Mitchell and on-loan Conor Gallagher to make their senior England debuts last season.
All three were recognised by Gareth Southgate for their form at Crystal Palace, meaning for the first time since 1991 – and therefore the first time in the Premier League era – there were three players from SE25 in the national squad.
