Vieira targets Brighton derby to turn Palace form around

Patrick Vieira understands the importance of Saturday’s derby between Crystal Palace and Brighton as he states his side will turn their form around.

Palace come into the game without a win in their last six in all competitions as Vieira welcomes Roberto De Zerbi’s Seagulls to Selhurst Park.

The south London club’s form has left them 12th in the table as Vieira admits recent results have knocked the mentality of his side.

He said: “We’ve lost a little bit of confidence that we need to get back and there will not be a better opportunity than tomorrow to do that.

“We have to keep working and we will turn things around, and we will take our chances and we will score those goals. I don’t have any doubts of the ability of these players to score those goals.”

Vieira did not play down the occasion as he emphasised the importance of his team regaining their form.

“The atmosphere when we play (Brighton) at home and when we play them away, you can smell the passion, the tension, the excitement, and this is what you call a proper derby,” he said.

“That has to be in the daily (approach) of this football club, playing with a lot of passion, playing with a lot of desire – we want to compete.”

Palace have struggled in front of goal recently and another scoreless performance could put pressure on Vieira.

He said: “This is something that we will have to improve, we will have to work to believe more in ourselves.

“I think the opportunities are there and one of the most difficult things to do in football is to put the ball in the back of the net, and this is something that presently we haven’t managed to do regarding the number of chances we created.”

Palace will also be without their leading scorer Wilfried Zaha due to injury.

Zaha has scored five against Brighton in eight Premier League games and Vieira acknowledged the influence the Ivorian has in this fixture.

Vieira said: “He’s gutted and frustrated of course but that’s his injury that he has to work through and wait until he comes back, but it’s difficult for him to manage the situation because he’s not used to it.”