Crystal Palace boss Patrick Vieira full of praise for Chelsea loanee Conor Gallagher

Patrick Vieira has been full of praise for Chelsea loanee Conor Gallagher and has said it has so far been a ‘joy’ to work with the 21-year-old.

Gallagher has had to prove his worth and ply his trade in the second tier of English football, but is now flourishing under Vieira at Palace.

And he did his parent club a huge favour as he put in a stellar performance as Palace beat reigning champions Manchester City 2-0 at the Etihad.

After the game, in which Gallagher grabbed a goal and an assist, Vieira was in awe of the midfielder.

“I think (Gallagher & Zaha) both of them, like the rest of the players, worked really hard,” Vieira said.

In the game, Gallagher dispossessed Laporte and teed up Zaha, before a role reversal in the second half saw the Ivorian set up Gallagher who left Ederson with no chance as he wheeled away in celebration.

It wasn’t just Vieira who was impressed by the youngster’s performance, as former Palace striker Ian Wright was heaping praise on Gallagher.

Speaking on Match of the Day, Wright was impressed with his pressing: “This is brilliant from Conor Gallagher, because he’s cutting off Laporte’s left foot, he wants him to go inside, bam.

“Pep’s saying they gave it away - no, Palace sucked them into that trap.

“Again, you look at Conor Gallagher, he goes into a position where we know that Man City like to play in that area.

“Bernardo Silva’s there, cuts it out again.

“And they did that all day, the plan was perfect. He was everywhere, he was doing everything.”

Gallagher was clearly feeling jubilant after the win on Saturday, and took to Instagram to say: “Wow, what a feeling! Brilliant team performance!”

After Gallagher’s great start to the season, and injuries taking a visible toll of N’Golo Kante’s playing time, Gallagher’s high press, work rate and teamwork give the impression he is the perfect midfielder to fit into Thomas Tuchel’s system at Chelsea.

He could follow his former Cobham teammates Reece James, Mason Mount, Callum Hudson Odoi and Tammy Abraham into becoming a Chelsea regular.