Crystal Palace manager Patrick Vieira has urged his side to be “braver” against Bournemouth on Saturday following a dispiriting defeat by Fulham.The Eagles had both Tyrick Mitchell and James Tomkins sent off during a 3-0 loss at home to capital rivals Fulham on Boxing Day, with former Arsenal and France star Vieira labelling the reverse as “one of his worst days” in charge of the south London club.”The quality has to be better, but I think the Fulham game will remind ourselves about the other side of the game. What we do when we don’t have the ball, how we win the second ball, where you put your head when other players are putting their feet. This competitiveness we had in other games, we need to get it back straight away.”##NAJAVA_MECA_6916474##Palace are 11th in the Premier League table and six points clear of the relegation zone, but Vieira was in no mood to let up on the Eagles. “There are a lot of aspects of the game we need to cover, but first of all it’s competitiveness. It happened during the Fulham game where you are going through a difficult period and you have to compete and try to win the second ball and we didn’t do it enough. We weren’t brave enough to play going forward, we played going backwards and that has to change. We have to believe more in ourselves, more in what we are trying to do.”Patrick Vieira on Chris Richards 🗣“Now he is fully fit and I expect him to challenge the players we have at the back and to help the team be more strong. He has had a really good couple of weeks, played a couple of games and been doing really well in training.” pic.twitter.com/gKBfB6qiE1— USMNT Only (@usmntonly) December 27, 2022 The World Cup-winning midfielder told his players to leave the defeat against the Cottagers in the past. “We still have a lot to improve on and off the field. It’s important for us to understand where we are and how competitive this league is. If we want to improve, we have to make the right decision to help the team be more competitive. We’ve had some really good performances, but Fulham wasn’t one of them.”ENGLISH PREMIER LEAGUE – Matchday 18Friday 22.45: (2.05) West Ham (3.50) Brentford (3.90)23.00: (1.28) Liverpool (6.50) Leicester (11.0)Saturday 15.30: (4.40) Wolverhampton (3.50) Man.Utd. (1.95)18.00: (1.15) Man.City (10.0) Everton (18.0)18.00: (1.50) Newcastle (4.50) Leeds (7.25)18.00: (2.00) Fulham (3.45) Southampton (3.80)18.00: (3.10) Bournemouth (3.10) Crystal Palace (2.60)20.30: (3.60) Brighton (3.50) Arsenal (2.15)Sunday 17.00: (1.70) Tottenham (3.70) Aston Villa (5.20)19.30: (6.00) Nott.Forest (3.80) Chelsea (1.67)***odds are subject to change
