Patrick Vieira believes anything is possible for Crystal Palace after they emphatically progressed into the FA Cup semi-finals with a 4-0 win over Everton.
The Eagles endured a tricky start at Selhurst Park but Marc Guehi’s 25-minute opener helped settle any lingering nerves and Jean-Philippe Mateta added a crucial second before half-time.
It put the hosts firmly in the driving seat for a place at Wembley and late goals from Wilfried Zaha and Will Hughes booked their spot in the last four with a comprehensive victory.
“Anything is possible,” five-time FA Cup winner Vieira insisted. “When you get to that level, anything can happen and that is the beauty of this game.”
Palace held Premier League leaders Manchester City to a goalless draw on Monday but barely got a kick before a stoppage occurred when Andros Townsend suffered a serious knee injury against his old club in the 12th-minute.
Once play resumed the Eagles took flight with Guehi heading home Michael Olise’s corner before Zaha set up Mateta, who rifled a low shot beyond Jordan Pickford for his fifth goal of the campaign in the 41st-minute.
Vieira added: “What I really loved was how we managed the game.
“We went through a really difficult period in the first 20 minutes but we managed to stick together and we showed a lot of experience that wasn’t our strength this season.
“We accepted the fact they were on top of us and we couldn’t play so we decided to go longer and wait until we could get back into the game.”
Everton boss Frank Lampard introduced Dominic Calvert-Lewin at half-time and made further changes but Zaha put the tie to bed in the 79th minute when he slotted home after Olise had hit the post with a scuffed effort.
It sparked chants of que, sera, sera from the home faithful and they increased when substitute Hughes fired in after Conor Gallagher had been denied to book Palace a fourth ticket to Wembley in the last decade having finished FA Cup runners-up in 2016 and won promotion via the play-offs in 2013.
“We don’t want to get too excited, what we want to do is enjoy the day because it is a really good day for the football club but at the same time we only went one step forward,” Vieira admitted despite a fine debut campaign in the Selhurst Park dugout.
“When you come out of the stadium and you see the fans, that is something that as a player, or manager and staff we want to make happen more often.”
Toffees manager Lampard was left to reflect on a sixth loss in 10 games since his January appointment.
An injury to Townsend halted Everton’s positive start in the capital but their new boss questioned the mentality of a squad who languish perilously close to the bottom three having never been relegated from the Premier League.
Lampard said: “There is only so much you can keep trying to butter someone up to give them confidence.
“We are playing at the cut-throat end of football here. This is a cup quarter-final to get to Wembley and if you haven’t got the confidence to play, you can quickly flip it and say have you got the b******* to play?
“Sorry, excuse me but that is the football reality. If you fall somewhere in the middle then don’t worry about it.
“We didn’t play that badly today and Palace didn’t play that well and we lost 4-0 because of a lack of confidence and a lack of what I just said. It wasn’t tactics. Tactics showed in the first 20 minutes Palace couldn’t get out of their half.”
