Patrick Vieira has admitted that although Crystal Palace are a better side when Wilfried Zaha was is on the pitch, he has been pleased with how the team have coped without the Eagles’ star in their most recent games.
Patrick Vieira said: “Wilfried is an important player for us because of his talent. When he is on the field I think opposition teams don’t react in the same way to if he isn’t on the field. The reason why he didn’t start is because he didn’t have enough training and he was poorly the week before. He is somebody that will play, but on the other side, it is good that with our team we create enough chances to win games. Even at Arsenal, we created a lot of chances and it is important for everybody to understand that collectively we will work hard to allow ourselves to create those chances, [but] having Wilfried on the field we are obviously stronger.”
The Ivorian winger missed Palace’s 2-2 draw with Arsenal at the Emirates through illness, and was only fit enough to come off the bench on Saturday in the Eagles’ 1-1- draw with Newcastle at Selhurst Park. In previous seasons, Palace’s record without Zaha has been woeful, though this year his absence hasn’t been felt as harshly, with Vieira having several attacking options at his disposal to compensate. Despite this Palace are still a superior side with Zaha on the pitch, said Vieira, who said he was happy with Palace’s creative output over the last two matches.
