Crystal Palace manager Patrick Vieira hailed his team's positive reaction as The Eagles avoided a fourth consecutive defeat with a 0-0 draw against Leeds United on Monday night.

The Frenchman felt his system, which involved a press-resistant midfield trio of Conor Gallagher, James McArthur and Eberechi Eze, controlled the tempo for the majority of the game.

It was a night where Palace could have wrapped things up if they had taken their chances better, with Wilfried Zaha's deflected strike in stoppage time being the closest either team had got to breaking the deadlock.

Jean-Phillipe Mateta also found himself cutting frustrated figures in front of the goal all game as the Frenchman gave his all to work positions that cropped up opportunities for goals - but a clinical edge was missing. 

  • Positive reaction

A victory against Leeds United would have lifted Crystal Palace into the 40-point threshold, which is the estimated tally to avoid relegation.

Only two teams since the genesis of the Premier League have ever descended out of the top flight with a tally over this threshold, but while Palace sit on 37 points, it leaves room for improvement for the South Londoners. 

Despite this, Vieira placed more emphasis on his pleasure towards the performance over anything in his post-match comments to Sky Sports. "We were very conscious of the performance, and I was pleased with how we started and ended the game," he said.

"The only thing missing was a little bit of quality upfront. Overall, it was a very good team performance and I'm pleased with how we played.

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" It worked very well. I was pleased with the tempo. The only thing missing was the decision making in the last third. We were really good from a defensive perspective, and I'm happy with the performance.

"Couple of chances where we need a little luck or other games will take them. I wanted the team to perform better than we did against Newcastle and we did.

"Good reaction - I didn't have any doubt from the reaction that we would have. It was just a question of starting the game well. We played some really good football at times."

  • Pushing on in the final games

Crystal Palace have never made things easy, so the assignment they will look to complete efficiently as possible is earning themselves mathematical safety, extending their Premier League era to a tenth successive season.

The last few games have been arduous for The Eagles. Goals haven't been as freely available as they once were, but they have kept their defensive virtuosity at its apex. 

Marc Guehi and Joachim Andersen persist as two of Palace's most important players heading into the final fixtures of the Premier League season, and both are continuing to play their part in hoisting Palace out of complacency and out of the dropzone.

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Patrick Vieira has already weathered a period during his era at SE25 where offensive productivity was shallow. And in that phase of the season, the Frenchman found the paradigm to alleviate the anxiety that came about through a lack of goals. 

Wilfried Zaha, Michael Olise, Eberechi Eze, and Odsonne Edouard are all players with the necessary prowess to hold the key to unlocking defences in the Premier League

Now, with five games left to play, it is over to them to produce more in front of goal to push Palace into a healthier league position. 

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