Vieira reacts to frustrating late Chelsea suckerpunch

Patrick Vieira says Chelsea’ late winning goal is a difficult

“It was really close – that is why I’m really disappointed for the players,” he told Palace TV after the game. “I think the performance we had today deserved some points.

“The frustration is that if you don’t win that game, you shouldn’t lose it. I think we can learn from that, but to concede at the last minute like that is so difficult.”

A tactical tweak saw Cheikhou Kouyaté and James McArthur start in midfield, with the more advanced players being used to frustrate the European champions.

“We needed to have those three midfielders behind Wilfried [Zaha] to be tight and compact,” Vieira said. “I think that front four worked really hard, and we knew that the quality and the pace of Wilfried and Michael [Olise] was going to create situations – and we did.

“We frustrated Chelsea, and we didn’t manage to score that chance with Wilfried. We knew it was going to be a tough game, and we knew that we had to be well coordinated as a team.”