Patrick Vieira: It was a dream start at Crystal Palace for Odsonne Edouard
Patrick Vieira called Odsonne Edouard’s Crystal Palace debut a “dream start” after the £14million signing from Celtic scored a brace to give the Eagles their first win of the season.
Edouard, who came on for Christian Benteke in the 83rd minute, took only 27 seconds to open his Crystal Palace account, finishing off Wilfried Zaha’s low cross from inside the area.
The 23-year-old doubled his tally with the last kick of the game, drilling a powerful shot past Hugo Lloris to give the Eagles all three points and cap off a 3-1 victory over Tottenham.
“It’s a dream start for him,” said Vieira on Edouard’s debut. “He came on, and there was more space that allowed him to score those two goals. But we have to give a lot of credit to Christian Benteke because in the first 70 minutes, he worked really hard.
“Then when Edouard came on, he just finished the job and took his chances quite well. For him to come on and score those two goals is really good for him because that will give him the belief and more confidence to do well for the team.
“I am really happy for him because that will help the team in the future. But we are a team, and again I will mention Christian because of his work ethic.
“When Edouard came on, there was more space in between the lines and he had more time inside the box, and that allowed him to score those two goals. But I want to give Christian credit for the way he did work for the first 70 minutes.”
The Eagles breezed past 10 man Tottenham, with the 3-0 victory securing the first win of the Patrick Vieira era and moving the South Londoners up to 11th in the Premier League table.
“It was a really good team performance. We started the game quite well with a lot of energy. We competed quite well, managing to win the ball quite high. I am really pleased with the performance that we had today.
“What we really wanted as a football club and as a team was to win the game. Lately, we have played some really good football, but we couldn’t win games, and we wanted that win because that will give us confidence. That was the most important thing for us.”
PICTURE: KEITH GILLARD
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