Crystal Palace boss explains Michael Olise’s early withdrawal in Newcastle United loss

The French U21 international started the game at St James’ Park, after only being fit enough to play for 20 minutes in the 2-0 FA Cup semi-final defeat to Chelsea on Sunday.

Olise was taken off in the 40th minute for Ghanaian international Jordan Ayew.

The 20-year-old, who has 12 goal contributions in all competitions this season after joining from Reading in the summer, had suffered an injury to his foot while on international duty with France.

Palace recorded their third loss in a row in all competitions against Eddie Howe’s Newcastle side, with Miguel Almiron’s 32nd-minute strike the difference.

“We know Michael had some issues with his foot in the past few weeks,” said Vieira.

“We started him today, but he wasn’t 100 per cent, so the best decision was to take him off.”

When asked whether the challenge over the remaining games was for the players to show they could build on what they have accomplished this season, Vieira said: “We always want to improve, individually and collectively.

“We want to be a better team, but we don’t want to come to any conclusions yet – there are still six games to play and six really important games for us.

“Of course, when we make those conclusions, we will see how players conduct themselves, how much they want to compete every week, and how far they are to challenge themselves to keep giving everything to the team and the football club.”