Crystal Palace manager Patrick Vieira wants his side to produce an immediate response to their defeat to Manchester City when they take on London rivals Brentford.
Palace looked set to maintain their impressive record against the Premier League champions when an own goal from John Stones and Joachim Andersen’s header gave them a 2-0 half-time lead at the Etihad.
However, Bernardo Silva pulled a goal back and Erling Haaland scored a 19-minute hat-trick to give Pep Guardiola’s side a 4-2 win.
“We have to bounce back after the defeat against City,” Vieira said in his pre-match press conference.
“It’s about recovering and trying to cover some parts of the game that we need to improve.
“The games we played against (Brentford) last year were quite challenging. It’s a team that is physically strong, working hard and the opposition team doesn’t create very much.
“It will be a different challenge (than Saturday). The possession will be more balanced for both teams but yes, it will be difficult opposition.”
Both games between Palace and Brentford finished 0-0 last year, but Palace have only failed to score in one game this season – the opening defeat against Arsenal – and Thomas Frank’s side have scored nine goals in four league games, including beating Manchester United 4-0.
“Last time when we played them there were a couple of chances for both teams and both teams were unlucky not to score goals,” Vieira said.
“I believe they have as much chance as us to win the game, they are playing with a lot of confidence, the system suits the players. We will have to be ready physically and tactically to perform as best we can.
“You just have to look at their game vs United, a lot of tempo, aggressiveness. It is a team that can press higher to try to win the ball in the opposition half, we will have to be really good on the ball if we want to play our game.”
Vieira was reluctant to comment on a report that the club had bid £27million for Chelsea midfielder Conor Gallagher, who enjoyed a successful loan spell at Selhurst Park last season.
“It’s difficult to talk about players not at the club,” he said. “Conor is a Chelsea player. Until Chelsea say otherwise there’s no point in us thinking about what it may not be possible to do.
“We have people working on trying to improve the squad because we are short on numbers. We need players and we will try to bring those players.
“We have a clear idea about the profile of players that we want to bring to the club and we will do our best to do it. If we manage to do it, it will be good. If not I am happy with the group of players we have, we have the quality to compete week in, week out.”
