Crystal Palace welcome Aston Villa on Saturday afternoon and it sounds like a perfectly regular Premier League match. However, there is more than meets the eye. In the dugouts, once fierce rivals now colleague managers – former Arsenal midfielder Patrick Vieira and Liverpool legendary captain Steven Gerrard.Their careers seem destined to be intertwined. While players, the met on 15 occasions in the 2000s when they were considered among the best midfielders on the planet.Twelve of those battles came when Vieira’s Arsenal met Gerrard’s Liverpool, with both men being the midfield engines of their respective teams. The two eventually became captains of their squads,Vieira in 2002 and Gerrard in 2003, but even before then both were established as leaders for their clubs.Meet the guy who will make Ronaldo and Pogba play ‘gegenpressing’Their styles were similar too – in his early years Gerrard was a tough-tackling box-to-box midfielder, just like Vieira. The Englishman eventually became more of a No 10 under Rafa Benitez and then a deep-lying playmaker later in his career.The intensity in both players’ approaches was a beauty to watch as neither man was afraid of a challenge and neither man backed down.In any of the six seasons that Vieira and Gerrard went head-to-head, Liverpool did not finish above Arsenal in the Premier League table. In that time, the Gunners won two titles in that time but may come as a surprise to learn that Gerrard had the better record when the two met as players.In all from their 12 matches against each other for Liverpool and Arsenal, Gerrard won five and Vieira won four.When it comes to their early managerial careers – the two followed different paths but there are similarities. Vieira started at New York City with taking over Nice afterwards and Gerrard took his first job at Glasgow Rangers.Arsene Wenger coming back to Arsenal?While the Frenchman started hi learning as a youth coach at Manchester City under Roberto Mancini and Manuel Pellegrini – Gerrard had a shorter stint doing the same with Jurgen Klopp at Liverpool.They have also managed nearly the exact same amount of professional matches at this point – the Englishman (41) has taken charge of 194 matches to 45-year-old Vieira’s 192.Both managers have similar philosophies, with an emphasis on possession and pressing. Vieira has been impressive in how he has turned Crystal Palace from a defensive team into a creative and offensive outfit in such a short space of time, while Gerrard looks for his teams to play in a similarly fluid and high-tempo 4-3-3 formation.At Selhurst Park on Saturday, the two will try and better the opponent with their similar views of the game.Conte after a shocking defeat: ‘I’m starting to understand the situation’’I faced him before in a pre-season friendly when he was manager at Nice and I was up at Rangers’, Gerrard said in his pre-match press conference.’He’s a man I’ve got a lot of admiration and respect for. First and foremost as a player, I had many battles against Patrick.’Some highs, some lows but he was certainly a player you could go and compete against and you could kick him, you could fight him, compete against him and he’d shake your hand after the game.Who was the better player? #cpfc #lfc #gerrard #vieira pic.twitter.com/8v58mSJ186— Mahou Man (@PalaceBySea) November 26, 2021 ‘He was a top, top footballer and one of the toughest battles I ever faced in terms of being a player.’ ‘He absolutely terrorised Liverpool in the 2001 FA Cup final. I had the unfortunate task of trying to mark him, and he was much too good for me on the day – but we managed to turn the game around and win 2-1, so that certainly finished on a high for me.'”I had many battles against Patrick…you could kick him, you could fight him, compete against him and he’d shake your hand after the game. He was a top, top footballer and one of the toughest battles I ever faced in terms of being a player.” – Steven Gerrard on Patrick Vieira pic.twitter.com/ifKVbMatT5— Gunners (@Gunnersc0m) November 26, 2021 Gerrard continued speaking about his opponent in more than an appreciative tone.’I think the things we maybe have in comparison is when we finished our careers we certainly went to the beginning to start in terms of the coaching route, going to academy football (Gerrard at Liverpool, Vieira at Manchester City) where you can learn away from the cameras and make a load of mistakes and get your pitch confidence. I’m sure Patrick would echo that.’He’s more experienced than myself to this point, but I really admire the fact he went to City’s Under-23s squad and really put the work into growing and evolving as a manager. I have a lot of respect for that.’##EDITORS_CHOICE##Gerrard expects his battles with Vieira to be just as tough from the touchline as they were on the pitch.’I expect the same to be the case from the side. I know he’s a winner, a competitor, he’s started the job off at Crystal Palace really well.’He’s changed the style, I must say Roy Hodgson did a fantastic job prior, but he seems to have built on that good work, gone a lot younger in his recruitment, difference in their style and he’s got his team flying high at the moment.’It’s going to be a tough test we’ve got a lot of respect for the fixture coming up ahead but we want to build on our good work from this week as well.’Vieira holds his Palace at the safe 10th place with 3 wins, 7 draws and 4 defeats while Gerrard has his work cut out for him as he has to save the Villains from relegations – the so-far score of the Birmingham team is 4-1-7 and they see themselves 15th in the table.PREMIER LEAGUE – ROUND 13Saturday15:30: (1.50) Arsenal (4.50) Newcastle (7.25)18:00: (1.33) Liverpool (5.90) Southampton (9.50)18:00: (2.30) Crystal Palace (3.35) Aston Villa (3.40)18:00: (3.80) Norwich (3.15) Wolverhampton (2.25)20:30: (2.10) Brighton (3.50) Leeds (3.80)Sunday17:00: (2.40) Brentford (3.25) Everton (3.30)17:00: (1.65) Leicester (4.00) Watford (5.80)17:00: (3.90) Burnley (3.50) Tottenham (2.05)17:00: (1.32) Man.City (5.90) West Ham (10.0)19:30: (1.62) Chelsea (4.00) Man.Utd. (6.25)
