The Eagles hope to book their spot in the semi-finals of the competition for just the sixth time in their history and claw a step closer to ending their 164-year wait for a major trophy.
Richards, 25, has started all three of Palace’s FA Cup games en route to the last eight, contributing to clean sheets against Stockport County and Doncaster Rovers while assisting Eddie Nketiah’s decisive goal against Millwall.
Looking ahead to tomorrow’s short trip to Craven Cottage, the United States international feels the FA Cup is there for the taking after the likes of Liverpool and Arsenal made early exits.
“It's a good chance to prolong our season and also a chance to play at Wembley,” he said.
“We're trying not to look over this game, but we're really hoping we get a good result tomorrow so that we can compete for something at the end of the season.
“Anybody can win it this year. I don't feel like there's a clear favourite. Hopefully, we can take that kind of underdog mentality that we've had all season long, use it in the cup and get a trophy by the end of the season.
"Not just myself but the club and coach really aspire to make history here at Palace."
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Were Crystal Palace to go all the way and win the competition, for Richards personally, lifting the trophy would represent the pinnacle of his career so far.
"It would be up there, for sure. To do it at a club like Palace and for Palace, it would be very high up there. It would probably be the biggest thing I've done so far."
As an American, Richards confessed he was not aware of the ambience surrounding the FA Cup before he came to England. However, after spending three years at Selhurst Park, the centre-back is determined to experience the Wembley atmosphere.
“In all fairness, I grew up watching a few games, but didn't quite realise the importance of it until I got here to Palace.
“The season before I arrived they made a good run. Hearing everybody speak about playing at Wembley, speak about the atmosphere and how the stadium is completely full with more fans than can even fit in our stadium and that's only half the stadium.
“I didn't quite know the scale of the FA Cup until I got here, but it's the biggest competition for a reason.
“Joel Ward \[has taught me\] a little bit because he played in some of those games. He has a ton of experience, whether it was getting promoted or whether it was the FA Cup final. So he's kind of been getting the boys ready for this game coming up.”
Despite dreaming of a trip to Wembley, Richards asserted the importance of remaining grounded in west London on Saturday.
“Tomorrow is just another game, we don't make it bigger than it should be. We’ve had good results over the last 20-ish games.
"If we play like we have been playing over those games, then we should get a good result tomorrow.
“Fulham have had a good season. We played them a few weeks ago. We kind of have an idea, or at least we have a fresh memory of how the game went.
"Hopefully, we can just kind of tighten up the loose ends and improve on that game, even though we won 2-0, it wasn't the best game ever.”