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2021/22 English Premier League
Matchday 31
Crystal Palace v Arsenal
Selhurst Park
London, England
Monday, 4 April 2022
Kick-off is at 21h00
Patrick Vieira will be hoping to mastermind victory against another one of his former clubs when Crystal Palace welcome Arsenal to Selhurst Park in a
London derby on Monday, April 4.
The Frenchman, who spent a successful nine years with the Gunners as a player and was part of the 2003/04 Invincibles, guided the Eagles to a shock 2-0 win over Manchester City earlier this term - the other team he represented in England's top flight.
Vieira oversaw a 2-2 draw against the north Londoners in the reverse fixture at the Emirates Stadium on October 18 and took more points off City in a goalless draw prior to the international break.
The point against the defending Premier League champions extended Palace's unbeaten run to four games and saw them close within two points of the top-10 in 12th position.
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Vieira paid tribute to his players for a hard-working performance against the Citizens and singled out goalkeeper Vicente Guaita for special praise.
"He (Guaita) was fantastic. I think his game management was excellent," the Palace manager said. "When we play against the quality of those teams you have to be really good in those departments and the way we managed the game was excellent.
"We managed to frustrate them and needed a really good performance from the goalkeeper to Wilfried Zaha up-front as a No.9. Everyone worked hard."
Arsenal have been in fine form since the turn of the year, with their only defeats coming to the league's top-two.
The 1-0 triumph at Aston Villa last time out was their sixth victory in eight outings since losing 2-1 to City on New Year's Day.
That impressive run has seen Mikel Arteta's side strengthen their grip on fourth place as they hold a three-point lead over Tottenham with a game in hand on their arch-rivals.
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Arteta wants more from his players in the run-in to the campaign, admitting they should have killed the contest off against Villa by scoring more than just the one goal.
"That we have 10 games to go and what we did yesterday or today now it's irrelevant," The Spaniard said after the clash at Villa Park.
"It's what we're going to do tomorrow, prepare, how we are going to improve the team and play better to win more games and especially more comfortably, because when you are so dominant like we were today, we have to score the second and third one and we're not there yet."
Head-to-Head (Last Five Premier League Meetings)
Matches - 5
Palace - 0
Arsenal - 1
Draws - 4
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