Patrick Vieira reacts to Crystal Palace’s first Premier League victory of 2022

Crystal Palace manager Patrick Vieira believes the 4-1 win against Roy Hodgson’s Watford was important for his side’s confidence as they picked up their first three Premier League points of 2022.

The Eagles moved nine points clear of the bottom three and up to 11th in the Premier League thanks to a double from Wilfried Zaha and a goal each from Conor Gallagher and Jean-Philippe Mateta.

The emphatic 4-1 win was Palace’s second away three points of the season and their first victory since the 3-0 home win against Norwich in late December.

Palace had five shots on target and scored four during the contest.

“It feels good,” said Vieira on picking up the first Premier League win of 2022.

“It was an important win for us, and we needed that win for our confidence.

“The result was really important. When you look at the last couple of games and our performances, they were good, but we missed that clinical finishing.

“Today, our game was more complete. We defended well, we used the ball well, we stuck together in a difficult period, and when we had chances, we scored in important moments of the game.

“Overall, it was a really good team performance.”

With James McArthur dropping to the bench and club captain Luka Milivojevic not selected, Vieira handed Marc Guehi the captaincy for the first time.

Guehi, who joined from Chelsea in the summer, is England’s U21 captain.

“It’s the leadership that he brings to the football club and to the team – his calmness,” said Vieira when asked about his decision of handing the 21-year-old the armband.

“He and Joachim [Andersen] have a strong partnership. The more that they will play together, the better they will be and have a better understanding.

“He, like the rest of the back four, had a solid performance. We knew how good they were [going to be] on the counter-attack and in the one-on-one, and we managed that quite well.”