The record holders: Six meetings
The season record for Palace for the most competitive matches against the same opponent was set in 1988/89: the Eagles met Swindon Town a whopping six times during that season, a feat which is unlikely to be repeated any time soon.
It is also (to date) the only time we have beaten one team four times in the same season.
This owed to the old format of the League Cup (then known as the Littlewoods Cup) which featured both replays and the opening two rounds being contested over two legs – so when Palace faced Swindon in the second round, that was two meetings booked in for starters (0-2 away and 2-1 home wins for Palace), followed by two league meetings (a 2-1 win at home and 1-2 defeat away), and two more then scheduled in the promotion play-offs.
The Eagles again came unstuck at the County Ground losing 1-0 in the first game. Fortunately, it wouldn’t prove fatal to our promotion ambition. Four days later under the lights at Selhurst Park, Mark Bright and Ian Wright both were on target in a 2-0 victory – with Palace memorably going on to secure promotion after defeating Blackburn in the final.