daniel chigunwe
LONDON. — Patrick Vieira and Wilfried Zaha claim putting pressure on Arsenal’s players was a key part of Crystal Palace’s game plan following their 3-0 victory over the Gunners in the English Premiership football at Selhurst Park on Monday evening.
The Gunners delivered one of their worst performances of the season as goals from Jean-Philippe Mateta and Jordan Ayew gave Palace a well-deserved lead by half-time.
Zaha then converted a penalty in the second half to complete Palace’s win, leaving Arsenal fifth in the English Premier League but level on points with fourth-placed Tottenham who have played one game more.
When asked about Palace’s approach to beating Arsenal after the game, Vieira revealed that he was keen for his defenders to restrict the service going into Alexandre Lacazette and pressurising Arteta’s defence.
‘’Today was about defending well as a team, putting pressure on the centre-back, putting pressure on the full-backs to not allow them to find the space in between the line, because if there is a space in between the line we would be in trouble,’’ said Vieira.
‘’We did it really well. Any time they managed to find those players we always had one of our back four who would jump out and try to put pressure especially on Lacazette.’’
Speaking about Palace’s tactics, Zaha said: ‘’We worked on what we were going to do all week.
‘’We knew they liked to play inside so we tried to just block the inside balls and when we had the chances we just countered and got the goals we needed.
‘’I think with the quality we have we’ve got to impose ourselves. In the games we play it’s not about looking at the shirt badges or whatever, we’ve got quality in our team. I think if we play the way we want to play we can hurt anyone.’’
Meanwhile, Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta apologised for his side’s performance in their surprise defeat at Crystal Palace and accepted it was not good enough for the north London club.
The visitors had gone into the game looking to move back into the top four and strengthen their hopes of Champions League football.
But they were second-best throughout at Selhurst Park as former Arsenal midfielder Vieira, now in charge of the Eagles, got one over his former side in some style.
“It is time to accept the criticism, put your hand up and apologise because this performance was not good enough for this club, but then react,” Arteta said.
“From the beginning we were not at the races. When you come here you have to compete, you have to win duels and second balls and be aggressive and we were none of those.” — Metro
Online Reporter