Patrick Vieira urges Crystal Palace to be wary of ‘unlucky’ Leicester

Patrick Vieira believes Crystal Palace will face a Leicester team in a “difficult period” this weekend and hopes his players can show the lessons learned against Brighton on Monday.

The 1-1 draw with their rivals still remains fresh after Neal Maupay struck in the 95th minute to deny the Eagles what would have been a deserved victory.

Attention turns to the visit of Leicester on Sunday where Vieira’s side will aim to produce another strong display but this time get the rewards they deserve.

“That is still in our mind,” the 45-year-old said in reference to the late goal conceded to Brighton.

“It was brutal but I was really pleased with the reaction of the players after the game. We talked about it and the players got really affected with the way the game ended but we have to use that disappointment to be even more focused from the first to the last minute.

“I think those situations will make the team even stronger because we have to learn from this and how to manage the last couple of minutes of the game.”

Leicester will travel to the capital going through arguably their most worrying spell under Brendan Rodgers with only one victory from their last six games in all competitions.

Injuries in defence to Wesley Fofana and Jonny Evans have halted the Foxes’ momentum this season, which started with a Community Shield win over Manchester City at Wembley but has snowballed into a tough period where they may even fail to reach the Europa League knockout stage.

Vieira added: “We will play against a team who are obviously going through a difficult period. They lost a bit of confidence and momentum but that doesn’t take away the individual and team quality.

“They have been unlucky in some of games so it will be really challenging because they have some really good players.

“Again we will have to be ready to work really hard if we want to take something from the game. The technical level of Leicester is really good so we have to prepare ourselves to suffer and perform well.”

While pleased with Palace’s performances this season, Monday’s dramatic finale makes it one victory in seven games under Vieira in all competitions.

He is delighted with the way the squad have responded to his arrival, with the style of play transformed compared to the football produced under predecessor Roy Hodgson but the former Nice boss is far from satisfied with their tally of six points from six league matches.

“I think if we are talking about the performances, it has been quite positive because we have seen a really good improvement from the Chelsea game to the last game we played against Brighton,” Vieira insisted.

“We are in a good process and there are still a lot of things we can improve because if we look at the points we have, we are not pleased and wanted more.

“There is still a lot to improve but the way the team has been working week in, week out and progressing game after game is quite positive.

“Now we have to learn a lot as well about the details in the game because those details can make us take the three points.”

Palace remain without Nathan Ferguson and Ebere Eze (both Achilles).