Patrick Vieira showers praise on 'unlucky' Leeds United ahead of Crystal Palace trip to Elland Road

Former Arsenal and France legend Vieira is nearly five months into his first job in management in England with Palace who sit 11th in the Premier League table after 13 games played.

The Eagles are six places and four points better off than Tuesday night's fourth-bottom hosts Leeds but Vieira feels Marcelo Bielsa's side have been unfortunate in some of their games so far this term.

Speaking at his pre-match press conference and quoted by football.london, Vieira said of Leeds: "I think the way that Leeds play is really demanding and obviously a lot of energy game after game is really difficult to maintain.

"But I think when you look at the game as well, they've been really unlucky in some of the games where they should have scored and they didn't.

"I think at the moment things are not going their way but that doesn't take away the energy and the quality that they have.

"Regarding the physicality from last year to this year, it is difficult because I didn't watch them play so many times last year, but this is the team that for me, play with organisation and energy, and that didn't change, really.

"So I think they've been unlucky not to win a couple of the games that they played so far. And reading the calendar, I think it's the same for everybody. So we just have to adapt to the number of games that we have to play."

Asked what problems Leeds would present, Vieira said: "I think the intensity and the organization is something that I think reflects quite well - the philosophy of the team.

"We expect them to run and run behind and stretch our back four and don't forget that they've got individual talent as well, who can score or create something during the game.

"So it's a difficult place to go. But I think after the game that we played against Villa we want to go back to the way we know we can play."

https://www.yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk/sport/football/leeds-united/yorkshire-evening-post-launch-leeds-united-only-digital-subscription-ahead-premier-league-campaign-2967964

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Thank you Laura Collins