Asked whether he felt Zaha was being targeted by the opposition, Vieira said the winger is used to such treatment but plays better and harder as a result.
“I loved his performance and don’t want him to change,” Vieira said. “He’s a fighter. When it’s tough he puts his sleeves up and is going into the fight. Today he was really good, really good for the team – worked well and defended well from the front. That allowed us to win the ball high up the field and create those chances.
“I think this is what he has to expect. The quality of his talent makes it really difficult for the opponent and sometimes they target him like they did today. I want him to be more calm but at times it’s really difficult. The referee was quite good today and that allowed him to stay into the game and play as well as he did.”
But Zaha wasn’t the only player Vieira had praise for, also commenting on Eberechi Eze’s excellent performance.
“Ebs is getting better and better,” he said. “When the team play like that it allows him to show his quality. He loves the game, is a football player and loves to have the ball at his feet. Today it’s his best performance since he came back.”
Finally, the manager commented on the performance across the team, saying he’s “delighted” with what he saw.
“I’m really pleased, delighted. We had a really good performance today. We went through a difficult period but we remained calm, determined and competed well. At times we played some really good football today so I’m really pleased with the quality and attitude we showed today.
“It was important to try to answer [Villa’s early goal] straight away. We scored that goal really early and were really up for it. I was pleased with that.”