Wilfried Zaha hits back at Brighton fans for sickening tweets hoping he ‘breaks his leg’ in derby clash
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WILFRIED ZAHA has slammed Brighton fans for hoping he "break his leg" in the derby clash against Crystal Palace, telling them to "grow up".
One of the highlight football matches of midweek Premier League fixtures sees struggling Palace entertain Chris Hughton's Seagulls.
In the week, Zaha described how, on a scale of one to 10 he "hates" Brighton 11, as revealed by on-loan team-mate Ruben Loftus-Cheek.
Seemingly this has not gone down very well with Brighton fans, with Zaha claiming he has been the victim of sickening threats on social media.
He shared a post to his Instagram story that read: "As you know I'm all for the football rivalry banter but as for Brighton fans tweeting 'I hope Zaha breaks his leg and I'll cheer'.
"Need to grow up honestly."
Palace head to The Amex tonight in the first ever Premier League fixture between the two teams - and their first meeting since their bitter Championship play-off semi-final in 2013.
Despite being one of English football's lesser-known rivalries it is the most intense of those involving either team, and Loftus-Cheek already recognises the importance of victory, largely because of a player he has also combined so well with on the pitch.
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Loftus-Cheek, who scored Palace's equaliser in Saturday's 2-1 defeat of Stoke, explained: "A few of the players have been educating me on the rivalry.
"We were at a signing the other day and Wilf was getting interviewed and the guy said 'how much do you hate Brighton on a scale of one-to-10 and Wilf goes '11!' - so that tells me everything.
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"I didn't even know, so when Wilf said that I was like 'okay, they don't like each other then', so I'm looking forward to playing in it.
"We need to take this momentum (from the last-minute winning goal against Stoke) into Brighton, hopefully play better there and get the win. The team are in good spirits."