LIVE: Burnley 3 Crystal Palace 3

The Frenchman was a World Cup and European Championship winner, he captained Arsenal's "Invincibles", won two Premier League and FA Cup doubles, landed four Serie A titles, added a Champions League winners medal as well as countless individual honours.

Burnley's Josh Brownhill, hailing from a household of avid Manchester City fans, watched it all as he progressed through Manchester United's system as a youngster.

“Yeah, he’s had an unbelievable career," said Brownhill. "He wasn’t my idol as such, but when you grow up, you realise how good he was. You take things from players without really knowing and he’s one I’ve taken things from.

“The way he handled the football, the calmness, but also that spite he had to win tackles, being brave, getting his head down and running. He’s definitely up there in terms of being an all-round midfielder. Not many players have an all-round game and he definitely had that.”

The Clarets' midfielder was about to turn 15 when Vieira signed on at the Etihad. Despite his Old Trafford links, the Warrington-born middle man would likely have been celebrating alongside dad, Gary, when the winner of the FIFA Confederations Cup netted for City when inflicting Burnley's heaviest home defeat in the PL.

Vieira scored the away side's fourth goal in the 20th minute after Emmanuel Adebayor, Craig Bellamy and Carlos Tevez had scored. Adebayor scored on the stroke of half-time to make it five, Vincent Kompany added a sixth in the second half, before Steven Fletcher bagged Burnley's consolation in the 71st minute.

Brownhill has been impressed with the ex-France international's start to life at Selhurst Park, but he's hoping things will be different on his latest visit to Turf Moor.

“He’s done a great job so far at Crystal Palace, I’ve not been surprised," he said.

“Hopefully we can cause an upset against them on Saturday.”