Patrick Vieira has warned Crystal Palace they will need another 10 out of 10 display to stun Premier League leaders Manchester City for a second time on Monday.
The Eagles produced an excellent 2-0 win at the Etihad in October, one of only two league fixtures Pep Guardiola’s side have lost this season.
Since an opening-day defeat at Tottenham, City have triumphed in 11 of their 13 away games in the top flight to highlight the size of the task at hand for Palace’s young and exuberant side.
“When you play a team like City you have to be nine or 10 out of 10 because of the quality of their team,” Vieira said at a press conference on Thursday.
“Of course, you have some moments that have to go in your favour. You have to force those moments and do what it takes to allow ourselves to win.
“When defending we can’t afford to make mistakes because of the quality of the players they have around, because we will get punished straight away.
“The game we had at the Etihad was a good collective game and we’ll need to create this kind of performance again.”
Wilfried Zaha opened the scoring after only six minutes against City in October and Aymeric Laporte’s red card for a challenge on the Ivory Coast international prior to half-time further helped Palace’s cause.
Conor Gallagher wrapped up the victory in the 88th minute with Vieira’s side scoring from two of their three shots on target.
The former City midfielder and Under-23 boss hopes they can be similarly clinical on Monday night.
Vieira added: “It is a challenge. We will face I believe one of the best teams, if not the best team, in Europe.
“We know that the game that we had at the Etihad was a good collective game that we had and we will need to create this kind of performance again.
“We will have to be solid, working well together and it’s going to be about defending well as a team but at the same time creating those moments that will allow us to create chances and why not scoring goals? We know we are capable of doing that.”
Palace, who have lost only one of their last eight games, are set to remain without right-back Joel Ward due to a groin issue while Nathan Ferguson and James McArthur are still sidelined.
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