Crystal Palace and Newcastle United face off at Selhurst Park on Sunday in a battle between two teams who concede too many goals.

BBC Sport examines some of the key themes going into their meeting in south London.

The comprehensive nature of Crystal Palace's 5-0 loss at Brighton last weekend was such that manager Pierre Sage subsequently said he felt shamed by the performance when issuing a post-match apology to supporters.

Palace are not the first team to fall to Brighton's impressively fluid football this season, but conceding five goals on the south coast underlines a worrying early-season trend for the Eagles.

They have let in the most goals of any side so far, while 17 goals conceded after seven matches is their highest tally at this stage of a Premier League campaign.

Sage's side have shipped at least two goals in 11 of their past 13 league outings and have faced the most shots (125) and most shots on target (43) of any top-flight team this season.

Palace also have the highest expected goals total against (14.8) in 2026-27, evidencing the quality of chances opposition sides have been able to create.

The key question for Sage is how best to address defensive deficiencies. He opted to award 18-year-old centre-back Honest Ahanor, on loan from Atalanta, a second Premier League start at Amex Stadium, but he was substituted after 53 minutes.

Axel Disasi replaced Ahanor for the Europa League fixture at Besiktas on Thursday night and while Palace's overall performance was much improved, they still conceded two goals and could not find a winner against 10 men.

First-choice goalkeeper Dean Henderson could feature for the first time since the 3-2 win at Fulham on 5 September after returning to training on Monday, but collective improvement will surely be needed if Palace are to follow up the 3-1 victory over Nottingham Forest with another home victory.

Newcastle United have defensive issues of their own to address, having conceded four goals in each of their past two away matches during defeats at Leeds United and Coventry City. The Magpies have not done so in three successive away matches in 97 years.

Newcastle have lost three of their past four league matches, including a 1-0 defeat by Aston Villa at St James' Park last weekend when they also laboured in front of goal, recording 16 attempts but only one shot on target.

Yoane Wissa had seven shots without hitting the target against Unai Emery's side in another frustrating individual performance.

The DR Congo international has scored one goal from 18 shots so far this season, at a conversion rate of just 5.56%. Of all Premier League players to have found the net at least once, only two have a lower shot conversion rate than Wissa.

And Newcastle also have to contend with a poor record at Selhurst Park. They have won only one of their past 11 league matches at Palace (D6, L4), a 2-0 victory under Steve Bruce six years ago.