Patrick Vieira says it’s “massively important” to have the experience of James McArthur and Cheikhou Kouyate back in his Crystal Palace midfield as they prepare to play two crucial games in their Premier League season.
The Eagles travel to Vicarage Road on Wednesday to face relegation-threatened Watford before hosting strugglers Burnley at Selhurst Park three days later.
Vieira’s side are yet to win a league game in 2022 but remain eight points clear of the drop zone in 13th place and with a far superior goal difference to those below them.
Key to their plans of seeing out the season strongly and avoiding being pulled into a relegation scrap are McArthur and Kouyate and the experience they bring to the squad.
Both started the season strongly under Vieira before McArthur got injured in November and Kouayte then left for the Africa Cup of Nations at the turn of the year.
“It’s massively important for us having those two players back,” Vieira told football.london on Tuesday. “Macca is one of the players we missed a lot because of what he brings us on the field.
“It's not about the quality of the player, but it's about his presence and his experience. He is his vocal when he's on the field, he is one of our leaders.
“I'm pleased to see him back and play well for somebody who didn't play for 13 weeks. I’m happy to see him on the field. Cheikhou, of course, bring us his competiveness too. Those two players were really important against Chelsea.”
Vieira deployed both McArthur and Kouyate together in the holding midfield positions of a 4-2-3-1 against Thomas Tuchel’s Blues on Saturday.
The Frenchman, who has otherwise consistently played a 4-3-3 this season, said afterwards his decision to switch things up was an attempt to make the game more compact and try to limit the influence Chelsea’s creative players could have in central positions.
Palace had shipped goals against West Ham and Liverpool from that area of the pitch of late but the presence of McArthur and Kouyate in midfield together on Saturday saw them improve in that department markedly.
“With the formation, you can call it the 4-2-3-1 or the 4-3-3,” added Vieira.
“I think it's all about the animation of the players in the field and having an idea about your role and responsibility.
“For Chelsea, I was quite pleased because of the way we defended as a team. I don't think they created a lot of chances.
“They had one with Kante, they have a couple of situations, but when you look at the quality of the team, and the quality of the players, and what they've been achieving in the last couple of months, I think as a team we defedned well.”
