Patrick Vieira says his Crystal Palace side have been working on different systems for their Premier League clash against Chelsea on Saturday.
The Eagles will be without regular starter Conor Gallagher for the clash against his parent club, which has left Vieira with a midfield conundrum to solve.
The Frenchman has been boosted by the recent return of midfielders James McArthur and Cheikhou Kouyate to action, while Will Hughes has been deemed fit to play a part after coming off injured against Brentford last week.
When Palace faced Thomas Tuchel’s Chelsea on the opening day of the Premier League season at Stamford Bridge, Vieira opted for a 4-4-2 formation to start before switching to a three-man defence in the second half following Joachim Andersen’s substitution.
And the Palace boss has not ruled out changing things up again for tomorrow’s match against the same opponents.
"We've been working in different systems with different players,” Vieira told football.london on Friday. "What is really important for me is to find the system where the players will express themselves. A system that will allow us to be stronger as a team in possession and out of possession.
"But what will be really important for the game tomorrow is the enthusiasm and the determination that the players will put on the field. And that will be the minimum requirement for these kinds of games but also for any games in the Premier League."
Vieira added that the Selhurst Park atmosphere created by the home fans would also play a big part in the weekend’s result.
Palace have played well at home this season but have been at their best when being spurred on by their supporters, with Vieira previously commending the Selhurst Park crowd for the part they play in motivating the players.
"We have to create this kind of atmosphere that we can bring the fans behind us," he said. "For the fans to be at the level where they've been so far so that allows us to be really exciting and try to create a moment or create that special day to win the game."
For Chelsea, an important part of their game on the weekend will be whether Romelu Lukaku can get firing. The Belgian has only scored five Premier League goals for the Blues this season but his manager Thomas Tuchel has told fans to be patient with the 28-year-old.
"We need a bit more patience than we maybe all have or wanted to have with his signing," said the German.
"We demand a lot of our strikers in terms of intensity, so there are several reasons why things are maybe like this, but we are on it.
"There are teams who heavily rely on one goalscorer – that is no secret – but there are teams, like Manchester City, who don't heavily rely on one person and have it on more shoulders.
"So both ways work and we want to bring Romelu to better situations, we want to create more situations, we want to understand him better and his teammates want to understand him better."
