Why Patrick Vieira was forced to substitute new signing Cheick Doucoure against Arsenal

Crystal Palace fell to a disappointing 2-0 defeat to Arsenal on the first day of the Premier League season despite showing fight, grit and determination for long parts of the game.

Arsenal threatened to run away with the game after Brazilian Gabriel Martinelli opened the scoring from a well crafted corner kick taken by the impressive Bukayo Saka.

The Eagles fought back after the goal and it took a mistimed header from the often impregnable Marc Guehi to give Mikel Arteta’s side the second goal that would ultimately guarantee all three points.

With Several new faces in both sides the game lived up to all the build up, Gabriel Jesus and Oleksandr Zinchenko both signed from Premier League champions Manchester City looked bright and were a level above all in the first 30 minutes before the game settled.

For Palace, there was no denying the fact that Cheick Doucoure signed from Lens is a brilliant player with his timing, tackles and over-all reading of the game an upgrade of all they have had last season.

Eagles fans had their hearts in their mouths when he went down half way through the second half and had to ultimately be replaced by veteran Luka Milivojević to see out the game.

The reason for his forced substitution was that he had picked up a cramp and could no longer continue, and even though it was disappointing to see him leave the pitch,it was the right thing to do.

In the period he was on the pitch he’d shown the Palace faithfuls what he would bring to the team but the fact that he was forced off would have left fans praying for the best.

But after the game he was seen walking unaided and having a chat with Odsonne Edouard who has taken him under his wings as he adapts to the Premier League.

No problem with effort but quality an issue at Palace

The nature of the Palace defeat shows a clear lack of quality in the final phase of attack for Patrick Vieira’s side and he will have to find answers to that if he is to have the same level of success he had last season.

The south London side have confirmed the sale of Christian Benteke to DC United and with nearly a month before the transfer window shuts, there are expectations that the Eagles will bring in a new striker to shake-up things in the team.