Patrick Vieira sends warning to his Crystal Palace players and offers selection hint vs Oxford

Crystal Palace boss Patrick Vieira has said the best way “to maintain confidence and belief... is for players to play games” ahead of a key League Cup match for the side.

The Palace manager is looking to build a winning streak when the squad travel to the Kassam Stadium today (Tuesday, August 23) to face Oxford in the EFL Cup.

Going into the game, the Eagles are fresh from an impressive 3-1 win over Aston Villa in the Premier League.

They will however be wary of the fact that last season they crashed out of the Cup at the second round - in one of the dents to what was a largely impressive campaign.

Vieira says they will have to build a ruthless mentality this season and he will be playing a strong team for the game as he aims to instil a winning mentality in the group.

The Palace boss said: “Most of the first team players will play. We will compete and want to go as far as we can – that is why we have training tomorrow.

“It’s important for us to recover properly because there is a game we want to win.

“Winning games builds confidence, and we need to keep going like that.”

He added: “When you look at the two performances against Liverpool and Arsenal, we had two good performances, but we didn’t win those games.

“Today [against Aston Villa], we had a good performance, and we managed to win. It’s important for us to maintain that.

“After a performance such as that, every single one of them will want to play again. 

“It’s important to maintain that confidence and belief – the best way to do that is for players to play games.

“We are at the start of the season, so there is no tiredness.”

A chance to start Olise

Last season one of the shining lights of the campaign was Michael Olise and even though an injury he suffered at the tail end of the campaign dimmed his light, he is working his way back to full fitness.

He enjoyed his first minutes of the season at Anfield and followed that with a 20 minutes impressive showing against Villa at Selhurst over the weekend.

He will now be hoping for his first start in the Cup as he looks to get up to speed and make a huge impact this season.

When in full flight, he is easily one of the most exciting youngsters to watch in the Premier League.