Patrick Vieira says his Crystal Palace side knew to put immediate pressure on Alexandre Lacazette whenever he got the ball during Monday night’s 3-0 win over Arsenal at Selhurst Park.
Goals from Jean-Philippe Mateta, Jordan Ayew and Wilfried Zaha earned Palace a memorable victory over the Gunners, who failed to leave much of an impact on the London derby and dented their hopes of Champions League qualification in the process. They ended the night with almost 70 per cent possession but could only muster three shots on target, with Lacazette and midfielder Martin Odegaard having particularly difficult evenings for the visitors.
Lacazette lost possession eight times during the 90 minutes and was caught offside twice, as well as having just 32 touches of the ball - less than any player that started the game for Arsenal, including goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale. He also mustered three efforts off target and failed to test Vicente Guaita once, with Palace keeping their fourth clean sheet in a row by constantly putting the Gunners’ forwards under pressure.
