Eddie Nketiah has reserved praise for Crystal Palace teammate Chris Richards, ahead of the game against Bournemouth.
Crystal Palace have a lot of top performers right now. But perhaps an underrated one is Chris Richards, who along with Marc Guehi and Maxence Lacroix has played every minute of the Premier League campaign so far.
Richards has been on international duty with USA this month and is tipped to be one of the first players in Mauricio Pochettino’s World Cup squad for next summer.
Eddie Nketiah of Crystal Palace celebrates scoring his team's second goal with teammate Chris Richards
Photo by Adam Nurkiewicz – UEFA/UEFA via Getty Images
Eddie Nketiah full of praise for Chris Richards at Crystal Palace
Crystal Palace take on Bournemouth in the return of Premier League football on Saturday. And speaking ahead of the game, Nketiah was talking about his teammates and singled out Richards for praise.
Nketiah told Crystal Palace’s official club website: “Someone who I’ll probably give a big shout-out to, I think, who through this run has been fantastic is Chris Richards. I think his consistency levels have been amazing.
“Every game he’s always there, he’s always fighting, he’s always winning his duels. I think he’s had a really good run in the team and he’s been, as with the other players, pivotal to the success that we’ve had.”
Chris Richards is Oliver Glasner’s most improved player, says ex-pro
Speaking in a recent interview, former England player Paul Parker hailed Richards as Crystal Palace’s most improved player under Oliver Glasner.
Palace signed Richards for around £10million from Bayern Munich in 2022 and he’s steadily become an integral part of the team, and he’ll only become more important when Marc Guehi leaves as a free agent next summer.
Parker said of Richards: “The man for me who has been incredible, since the change of manager, Chris Richards, the change of manager has just lifted him up there. He is so confident.”
Glasner may well look to one of Lacroix or Richards to be the direct replacement for Guehi ahead of the 2026/27 season.