Crystal Palace manager Patrick Vieira reserved praise for Wilfried Zaha and Michael Olise after the team claimed an impressive 2-0 win against Manchester City at the Etihad Stadium on Saturday.
The Ivory Coast international put the Eagles ahead in the sixth minute before Conor Gallagher made it 2-0 in the 88th minute and this was after Man City had been reduced to 10-men following Aymeric Laporte’s red card in the 45th minute.
The former Arsenal captain has now hailed the overall display of Gallagher, Zaha, and Nigeria target Olise, who came off the bench to set up the second goal.
"[Conor is] fantastic. His energy is what we need, what we want, and when he’s on the field he sacrifices himself for the team,” Vieira told the club’s official website.
“He managed to get in the box and score the second goal that got us the win.
“But again, the team performance was fantastic. Wilf [Zaha] from upfront worked really well. We got the ball and that allowed us to be more strong.
“We knew that with [Olise’s] talent and the quality of his one-v-ones going forward, the plan was to try and score that second goal because we knew with the quality that they had they could score at any time.
“That decision went in our favour. It is good because I made some tough decisions – leaving Christian out of the starting XI was really difficult because the last two games I think he was fantastic.
“This shows as well the group of players that we have. It’s a good win, and everybody was really pleased and really happy. But we still need to work on some parts of the game that we can improve a lot.”
On the outcome of the game, Vieira said: “Today [Saturday], we were concentrated from the start until the end. Coming to Manchester City and not conceding a goal is a really strong statement and is really good for the team.
“It was really stressful, but at the same time, we knew any game against Man City would be challenging. But today [Saturday] we showed character, resilience, and I’m really pleased for the players because on the field they gave everything.
“They worked really well. On the field, they put their bodies on the line, and they stopped so many shots and so many crosses. I’m really pleased for them to take away the three points.”
Zaha’s goal against Man City saw him become the first player to score 50 Premier League goals for Palace.