Parties from both sides speak to the media ahead of Crystal Palace against Fulham.
Tim Ream
They’re all tough. Every single match is tough. We know that, every guy in the changing room knows that. We know we’ve put ourselves in a very good position to now kick on for the second part of the season, and that’s what we’re going to be looking to do. We have to understand what the last 23 games are going to hold and what they have in store for us. We have an ultimate goal, and we’re going to do everything we can to achieve that.
Luka Milivojević
I worked with [Marco Silva] for almost two years at Olympiakos. I know his work, I know his stuff, and I know how good he is as a manager. They’re doing very well, they’re new this year in the Premier League, they have improved the squad. I think we are there with them, to be honest – we are level on points, the football that they are playing and we are playing is attractive with a lot of goals, a lot of attacking actions. I think it will be a very interesting game to watch.
[Aleksandar Mitrović] is one of my best friends, so I don’t think I need to tell you more than that! From the football side, you all know how good he is and what he can achieve. In Serbia, he is a really big star. I see him almost every few days, so for me it will be just another one, but I told him he needs to improve his record against me, because I think he still didn’t beat me! Maybe once for Newcastle, but that was a long time ago and maybe he came on for the last 15 minutes and they scored a goal. But when we’ve played, I didn’t lose against him, so he needs to improve that!
Harrison Reed
They’re a very good team. It’s always a tough place to go, Selhurst Park, but it’s one we’re really looking forward to. We can’t wait to get going and we want to hit the ground running in that game. [Joachim Anderson] is a really good lad, someone I keep in touch with as well. You don’t often keep in touch with too many people, but he was someone that I really got on well with. And he’s obviously a very, very good player – hopefully not on Monday, when hopefully he has an off day!
Patrick Vieira
We had a difficult pre-season where we had two groups, so it was really difficult to work more on details. The 10 days we had in Turkey allowed us to focus on some important parts of the game that will allow us to improve as a team. [Working hard] was the plan. It was important to keep the tempo and rhythm of the Premier League. We had the first couple of weeks off, then a really good trip in Turkey. The players are working well and working hard. We’re ready to go.
Marco Silva
In my opinion, a very good side. Collectively, they are good and they have very good organisation on the ball. They have the quality to play and to create and to be always a threat for the opposition side. At home, with the support of their fans, they normally are even stronger. They have the quality, they have about three or four players in the frontline that are always a threat and they can create problems.
Andreas Pereira
I played my 50th game [this year], the last game against United, so I was really tired and [the break] came at the right moment. I had two weeks of just relaxing and charging all the batteries. We had two weeks off but we’ve been back training for three weeks. We’re going to play our first game on the 26th, so it feels like we’ve done another pre-season. We’re preparing ourselves again, so it was a bit of a strange feeling having the World Cup in the middle of the season.
