Vieira: We can't compare Crystal Palace to my great Arsenal side. Let's savour the win

By Alessandro Schiavone

Patrick Vieira dismissed suggestions that Crystal Palace’s victory at Manchester City bore a striking resemblance to how his legendary Arsenal side used to dispatch the stronger sides back in the day.

The Eagles sat deep, defended well, conceded possession, hit on the break and won 2-0 despite not seeing much of the ball and being forced onto the back foot throughout the game.

Arsenal were masters at playing that way against the top sides and comparisons between the team Vieira skippered and the club he now manages were inevitable.

But the Frenchman was having none of it, stating that they only way to register a positive result at Manchester City is weathering the storm and taking the chances.

The former OGC Nice manager said: “I don’t want to compare any generations or any teams. But 99% of the teams, when they come to the Etihad, spend the majority of the time defending and we had to accept that. We did it on Saturday and I think at times we did it really well.

“We have to be really proud about ourselves with the way we defended. Not conceding a goal is [a great achievement]. We showed as well that we have this kind of resilience to put our body on the line and to stops the goals, and this is a side of the game which we didn’t show at the start of the season. But we showed that we can do that. What is important now is to get this kind of confidence to be even better as a team.”

Palace drew to games which they dominated and should have won against Arsenal and Newcastle.

The Gunners equalised with the last kick of the game while Newcastle had only registered one attempt on target before Callum Wilson stunned Selhurst Park with an excellent overhead kick.

But Vieira defused the situation, confident that good and bad luck will eventually cancel itself out.

He added: “We know that luck at the end of the season is always gonna be in the middle.

“It was important for us to keep working the same way we have been doing week after week and to believe in ourselves in the way we want to play the game. We knew that we needed to improve our game out of possession and we believed that we conceded too many [late] goals to win, or to allow us to win football matches.

“And on Saturday we defended well against one of the best teams in Europe and the best team in the Premier League. I want my players to enjoy that moment because we showed the side of the game that is important for us to win football matches.”