Richards on Palace priorities this season & ‘bouncing’ Selhurst

First-team

3 hours ago

Chris Richards was adamant when asked whether Crystal Palace would now prioritise the Premier League or European competition: his team want to go for both.

Fresh from a fifth clean sheet in a row at Selhurst Park in all competitions, Richards and his fellow defenders were once again impressive in Sunday’s 2-1 come-from-behind win over Newcastle United, making it six games unbeaten in SE25.

Buoyed by two superb home wins in a row, Palace will now turn their attentions back to Europe this midweek, hoping to close out their UEFA Conference League quarter-final with a 3-0 lead over Fiorentina.

But in the remaining two months of the season, Richards has revealed his teammates want glory on domestic and continental fronts.

“The gaffer had a conversation with us about if we wanted to focus on one or the other,” the defender told Premier League Productions. “We all agreed that we wanted to go for both.

“We have a second leg [against Fiorentina] and then hopefully a semi-final afterwards. But again, we also want to climb up the table.

“We want to give our best performance every time we step out on the pitch. That's exactly what we're going to do.”

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With the great atmosphere, we wanted to reward the fans with two wins
—Chris Richards

Richards hailed the ‘amazing’ Selhurst Park atmosphere which – in both home matches last week – helped roar the team onto impressive victories.

“It was amazing,” the 26-year-old beamed. “It was bouncing.

“JP to step up and take the penalty… and bury it! Again, it was amazing. I think you heard the stadium, it was jumping today.

“With the great atmosphere, we wanted to reward the fans with two wins. I'm glad we were able to do that – and leapfrog Newcastle in the table!

“We knew that Newcastle are a very high-intensity team. We wanted to find their gaps. They were pressing man-to-man and we tried to find a few in behind. But, even keeping the ball and trying to find pockets, we did well as well.

“I think the game that we had here on Thursday helped us for a game like today, because they [Fiorentina] also played man-to-man.

“We’re very happy with the win, and I think when you can score in the last minute, I think it also makes it a bit more fun.”

Richards also reserved words of praise for Jean-Philippe Mateta, who – after making his first start since January against Fiorentina – opened the scoring versus the Serie A side, and followed it up three days later with both late goals against Newcastle.

He observed: “I think everybody sees JP as a character, not just on the field but off the field. When he has a light energy like that, it helps the people around him. Today, when he came on, he made a big difference.

“He was physical, he was making runs, just getting stuck in. Again, he was rewarded with two goals, so we were all happy for him.

“It's been a tough few months for him, but we embraced him like family. Again, we're just happy that he got on the scoresheet again.”

As for the return trip to Florence, Richards added: “We expect some tough games ahead, regardless of who we're playing.

“We won the first leg 3-0, and we know the second leg is going to be a tough one. They have a lot to play for, and again, for the rest of the season, we also have a lot to play for.

“I'm just going to go 100% every game and hopefully come out with a lot more wins than anything else.”

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