Eze and Olise stay late: Five things we spotted at Crystal Palace training ahead of Brighton

Crystal Palace and Brighton will renew their rivalry on Friday night in the Premier League at the Amex under the lights.

Brighton have had a brilliant first half of the season while Palace aren’t far behind, and both teams will fancy their chances.

Patrick Vieira’s side recovered from a disappointing 3-2 defeat against West Ham to beat Millwall 2-1 in the FA Cup and they will hope to build from there when they travel to the Amex.

So here are some of the things we observed from the Eagles’ training sessions at their Beckenham training base.

James McArthur and Nathan Ferguson work in the gym

The Brighton game might come early for experienced midfielder James McArthur, who has missed the last couple of months due to an injury.

He was at the training base, but was seen working in the gym alongside full-back Nathan Ferguson, who also missed the game against Millwall.

Both will be a doubt for the trip to Brighton Friday night.

Olise and Eze last to always leave the training base

As alway it was Michael Olise and Eberechi Eze who were the last to leave the training pitch on Wednesday afternoon, after electing to stay behind and practice set-pieces with dummies.

Both are pushing for a start on Friday night, and would have done their chances little harm after spending the extra time perfecting their techinique.

Eze is working his way back to full fitness after a bad injury ended his first season at the club abruptly.

While Olise, who arrived at the club from Reading this summer, has only made three starts, which included his sensational display against Millwall in the FA Cup.

Both are seen as the future of the club.

Vieira joins the action to show he’s still got it

Patrick Vieira also joined one of the groups to make up to the numbers in the final phase of the session.

The former Arsenal midfielder often takes part in the final session of the day, and on Wednesday he didn’t look out of place even if the kick about only lasted for around 20 minutes.

Negative Covid tests

There is a small set up just outside the training facilities where players have their Covid tests when they arrive.

They have to return and wait in their cars, and can only go into the training facilities after they have received a negative test result.

All players were cleared, and there have been little Covid issues since the initial outbreak at Christmas.

Vieira takes team back to first-team training area

Crystal Palace had been training at the academy ground ahead of the Millwall match, but have now returned to the first-team training facilities as they gear up for the game against Brighton.

LondonWorld understands that the academy players use some of the classrooms for their work and sometimes the movement can be distraction.

So Vieira and his team have moved back to their usual training base to prepare for the game.