James Milner's record-equalling 653rd Premier League appearance will be a "special" moment for the 40-year-old, with Fabian Hurzeler planning for him to be involved when Brighton face Crystal Palace on Sunday.

Milner's next Premier League outing will bring him level with Gareth Barry's all-time record, though the former Manchester City and Liverpool man has currently played 14,031 fewer minutes in the competition than Barry racked up in his long career.

Twelve of his 14 appearances this season have come from the bench, and it is likely he plays a cameo role against Brighton's old rivals Crystal Palace this weekend.

Asked about Milner's approaching landmark, Hurzeler said: "He will definitely be in the squad. For me, James Miller is a role model. 

"He's a great character to work with and I think being a Premier League player at his age and still playing and training at the level he does is incredible. 

"I'm very pleased to work with him. I think it will be a special thing for him. But he's focused on the vision of the club as well. He wants to be successful, like he has been his whole life."

"Players like James know what it needs to win. They know how you need to prepare for a game. 

"They know how you react in bad runs like we have at the moment. It's so important to have these kinds of players in the squad who are also great leaders."

James Milner has now played in the Premier League in 25 calendar years  pic.twitter.com/JBJiZnDMzJ

— Premier League (@premierleague) January 3, 2026

Brighton sit 13th in the Premier League, with Palace only two places and two points behind them following difficult runs for both sides.

Palace had a busy January transfer window, bringing in three attackers in Brennan Johnson, Evann Guessand and Jorgen Strand Larsen, though they did lose captain Marc Guehi to Manchester City.

Head coach Oliver Glasner, who had called out Palace's lack of spending in previous windows, said: "It feels like a new team, with three new players coming in. 

"Now it's really to start. We got Guessand in. He had his first week of training with us. Brennan arrived a few weeks ago. Now, for us, it's about pressing the reset button." 

PLAYERS TO WATCH

Brighton – Pascal Gross 

Though all eyes will be on Milner, the likelihood is he will start on the bench, with Gross having scored in Brighton's 1-1 draw with Everton on matchday 24.

That strike made him the first Brighton player to score under all four of their Premier League managers (10 in 63 for Chris Hughton, 10 in 98 for Graham Potter, 10 in 67 for Roberto de Zerbi, one in five for Hurzeler). 

The only other player to score under 100% of a team's managers in the Premier League – having played under at least four – is Peter Ndlovu at Coventry City (Bobby Gould, Phil Neal, Ron Atkinson, Gordon Strachan).

Crystal Palace – Ismaila Sarr

Only Mateta (10) has more goals in all competitions for Crystal Palace in 2025-26 than Sarr (nine) – he also scored two and assisted another on his last appearance at the Amex in December 2024, in a 3-1 Palace win.

Working pic.twitter.com/mhNTRmtgZb

— Crystal Palace F.C. (@CPFC) February 5, 2026

MATCH PREDICTION – BRIGHTON WIN

Brighton have won just two of their last 13 Premier League games against Crystal Palace (D7 L4), though both victories in that time have come at home.

Indeed, the Eagles have won two of their last three Premier League games against the Seagulls (D1), though before this run, they only won one of their previous 12 (D6 L4).

Neither team approaches Sunday's match in good form, though Brighton might fancy their chances of earning three points with home advantage on their side.

Since the start of December, only Wolves (six) and Burnley (five) have won fewer points in the Premier League than both Brighton and Palace (nine each), with the Eagles also having the joint-worst goal difference in that time (minus 10 – scored 8, conceded 18).

Palace are winless in nine Premier League matches (D3 L6), last going 10 or more games without a victory between January and March 2023 (12).

And since matchday 16 – the start of Palace's winless Premier League run – the Eagles have scored the fewest goals (five) and underperformed their expected goals (xG) figures by just over eight goals (13.3 xG), the worst differential in the league.

OPTA WIN PROBABILITY

Brighton – 51.5%

Crystal Palace – 23.9%

Draw – 24.7%