Patrick Vieira and Wilfried Zaha claims putting pressure on Arsenal’s players was a major part of Crystal Palace’s game plan after their 3-0 win at Selhurst Park on Monday.
The Gunners delivered one of their worst displays of the season as goals from Jean-Philippe Mateta and Jordan Ayew gave Palace a deserved lead by half time.
Zaha then converted a penalty in the second half to complete Palace’s victory, leaving Arsenal fifth in the Premier League but level on points with Tottenham who have played one game more.
When asked about Palace’s approach to beating Arsenal, Vieira revealed that he was keen for his defenders to restrict the service going into 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 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.’
