A smiling Patrick Vieira sips his water and sits at his press conference desk to begin the first of his thirty-eight pre-match media briefings for the new Premier League season.
Crystal Palace face Arsenal in the opening match of the new season Friday night at 20:00. Palace look to start the season as well as they ended the previous onewith a scalp of another ‘Top 6’ side.
Both London clubs have made significant improvements and signings this summer, with Arsenal bringing Manchester City duo Gabriel Jesus and Oleksandr Zinchenko to the Emirates.
In his first press conference, Palace manager Patrick Vieira gave his thoughts on the opposition, his squad, and the desire for improvements from last season.
Prepared for Arsenal?
Vieira noted how the splitting of the squad over pre-season between England and Australia/Singapore was not ideal for the preparation of the squad.
"That’s true that we didn’t have the best preparation, obviously. The game tomorrow will tell us a lot about where we are and which parts of the game we need to improve."
However, Vieira is not taking this Arsenal match lightly, despite his team taking four points from the North London side last season.
"I think they’re in a better place than last year", the former Arsenal captain and invincible Vieira noted, "the new players [Arsenal have] brought in, they are much stronger. They have the squad to challenge and be closer to the title".
"I think with the new players they have in the squad of course they are a better team. They had really good games during the pre-season".
While Vieira backs his former team to be closer to the top of the table this season, he still notes the strengths in his squad. "We know that it is going to be challenging but I believe that we have the tools to make it difficult for them, to make it challenging for them".
Palace have brought in many ‘new tools’ over the summer including Bayern Munich’s USA international Chris Richards, Derby County starlet Malcolm Ebiowei as well as England international goalkeeper Sam Johnstone. Both sets of fans can look forward to a competitive and aggressive opening to the Premier League at Selhurst Park
Injury Setbacks
Vieira noted how Palace would be missing a few key players heading into the clash with Arsenal. "Macca [James McArthur] will not be part of the squad tomorrow," admitted Vieira.
The Scottish midfielder had been pivotal for Palace up until his injury in November last season and has since been in and out of first team action due to a groin injury.
James Tomkins is also out of the squad with "an issue with his calf".
The news that may upset Palace fans the most is the absence of Michael Olise. While this won’t be news to Palace fans as Olise did not play during pre-season, Vieira noted that the French winger is still "a couple weeks away".
Improvements from last season
While Palace had a successful season, Vieira is still seeking improvements throughout the squad both for the squad generally and individual performance improvements.
"A good season would be to improve ourselves on last year. Players, individually and collectively, we want to be in a better place, play better football, be more competitive. That has to be the challenge for us. We have to raise the bar and be more demanding on ourselves to be more competitive."
"What was really important for us and for me is to keep that stability and try to improve the squad. A couple of players came on [board] and that will give us more challenges because what we want is players to make it difficult for me to choose the starting XI."
Vieira seemingly does not have a set starting XI. With the increased depth throughout the squad as well as developing academy products which were on show in Palace’s pre-season tour of Australia and Singapore, the competitiveness within the squad looks to only achieve these individual improvements that Vieira seeks.