Patrick Vieira explains defender’s absence from Crystal Palace’s draw with Brighton & Hove Albion

Crystal Palace boss Patrick Vieira has explained that Chris Richards missed their 1-1 draw with Brighton & Hove Albion on Saturday with a back injury.

The 22-year-old centre-back had played the full 90 minutes of the three outings in the Premier League after Joachim Andersen picked up a calf injury in the 1-0 defeat at Chelsea.

Palace signed the American international in the summer from Bayern Munich for a fee in the region of £10million. The ex-Hoffenheim loanee signed a five-year deal with the Eagles.

Vieira handed James Tomkins a start alongside Marc Guehi. The 33-year-old ex-West Ham defender pounced on a mistake from Brighton keeper Robert Sanchez in the 69th minute to earn the South Londoners a point after Solly March opened the scoring.

Tomkins has only made 14 appearances in all competitions under Vieira since he took over from Roy Hodgson last summer.

“I’m really pleased,” said Vieira of Tomkins, who played his first 90 minutes in the Premier League this season.

“When you don’t play often, it’s really difficult to find that momentum.

“With Chris Richards’ back injury, he responded really well. He showed a lot of professionalism in the last couple of months. 

“Today, he got rewarded with the goal he scored. I’m happy for him.”

When asked how long Richards was expecting to be missing, Vieira added: “We don’t know yet. He had the injury this morning, so we have to wait to see how long he will be.”

PICTURES: KEITH GILLARD