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Vieira: Crystal Palace fortunate to have Zaha in the squad
The former Arsenal captain is happy to have the Ivorian winger in his squad ahead of the new season
Crystal Palace coach Patrick Vieira has explained his happiness at having winger Wilfried Zaha in his squad for the new campaign.
The Ivory Coast player has always been the subject of transfer speculation in the last three windows with Arsenal and Everton having been linked for his services but it never materialized.
Ahead of Palace’s Premier League opener against Chelsea, the former Arsenal midfielder has explained the importance of having Zaha in his squad.
“He’s been fantastic,” Vieira told the club’s official website. “He’s been a leader like I was expecting.
“A leader on and off the field. He’s I believe one of the best players in this league and we’re fortunate to have a player like that in our squad.”
The French tactician will take charge of his first game against Chelsea, and speaking on what to expect, he said: “Thomas [Tuchel] is one of the great managers in Europe, really strong team around him.
"Chelsea are playing great football and it will be a challenging game for us, but as I said, we are up for it, we are believing in ourselves and we are up for the difficulty we will face.
“This football club has some values. I think when you look at the way this team conducted themselves in the last couple of years, fighting to stay in the Premier League, hard work is part of the DNA of the football club. That’s something we have to keep.
“It’s important for me to implement the vision I have of the game. We have exciting young players in our football club and it’s important for me to manage them to play at the level I know they can do and hopefully help us play some good football.”
On the team’s squad and fitness, Vieira said: “We all know about the long-term injuries. So far everybody is feeling good and is ready to start the season.
“We’re going to do our last training this afternoon and he [Joachim Andersen] will be part of the squad for the first game.
“Michael Olise is feeling better and in the next two weeks will be starting work on the field. Luka [Milivojevic] is not going to be with us for the game against Chelsea.
“He’s been missing in the last couple of days for personal reasons.”
