‘We should have scored more’ – Palace boss Vieira reflects on 1-1 draw at Aston Villa

Patrick Vieira felt Crystal Palace had enough quality to score more than one goal in their 1-1 draw with Aston Villa this afternoon.

The best chances of the first half fell to Steven Gerrard’s side with Danny Ings twice going close to opening the scoring at Villa Park.

Ings’ first chance came in the opening stages when Joachim Andersen failed to clear a cross but the former Southampton striker snatched at the chance and volleyed the ball over Jack Butland’s goal.

Ings then went close midway through the first half after he wrong-footed Andersen inside the area and curled a shot inches wide of Butland’s post.

Palace’s best opportunity came through Wilfried Zaha. Eberechi Eze played a defence-splitting pass through to the Ivorian. But despite Zaha’s shot from distance swerving in the air, Emiliano Martinez was able to palm the ball to safety.

Villa took the lead in the 69th minute. Lucas Digne picked out Ollie Watkins, who was wrestling with Marc Guehi at the back post, and the ball ricocheted off the Villa forward and past Butland.

Jeffrey Schlupp equalised for Palace in the 82nd minute when Andersen’s cross back into the box was knocked down by Guehi for Schlupp to tap home.

“I’m really happy with the performance,” said Vieira. “From the first minute, we played well, and we managed how to control the game.

“We showed quality, and we showed character to get back into the game and to take a point. We tried our best, but when we got to the last third, we didn’t always make the decision.

“We need to keep working and keep improving, but this is one of the areas that we have to be better in next year.

“There was space for us today. With the way that we played and the chances that we created, we should have scored more than one goal.

When asked about his side’s reaction to going behind, Vieira added: “I was really pleased.

“We didn’t deserve to concede that goal. But we showed quality, and we showed character to fight and to find the strength to get back into the game and to score the equaliser.”

Referee Chris Kavanagh booked Vieira for protesting Villa’s opener after Watkins bundled Guehi over in the process of scoring.

“From where I was, I thought it was a foul,” added Vieira. “There is a player who played the ball and one who played the player. But I have not had a chance to look at it again, so that was from the angle I was at.”