Exclusive Chris Richards (Crystal Palace): We are unbeaten because we love each other

Exclusive by Alessandro Schiavone

Chris Richards admits that Crystal Palace were “focused” on capitalizing on West Ham’s vulnerabilities from stationary positions.

Prior to Saturday’s east versus south London derby, Graham Potter’s embattled Hammers had shipped six from a total of 11 goals through set-pieces.

And it looked like the Eagles would score each time from a dead ball situation. This materialised when Jean-Philippe Mateta guided home a header following a corner.

And Richards made no mystery that hurting them that way was part of their game plan.

He told Capital Football: “It’s something we focused on.

“Every time we play a team, we try to score a set-piece goal.

“I am glad that we could do it, but we also conceded one.

“At the end of the day we did pick on the weakness and tried to exploit it.”

Barring champions Liverpool, the reigning FA Cup winners are the only unbeaten side in the league so far.

Few saw that coming five games into the season not least considering how poorly they kicked off last campaign.

But Richards said: “It’s mentality, you know?

"The gaffer came in from day one and wants us to care about the team we play regardless of the competition we’re in.

“It all comes down to mentality… we don’t like to lose games and hopefully we can continue this unbeaten run.”

Despite talisman Ebere Eze’s departure, Crystal Palace look as strong as ever.

Richards added: "It’s a team sport, if someone goes down someone comes in.

“We’re a big team, a team that loves each other and when we’re on the field we’re very united.

“[His replacement] Yeremy Pino is good, hopefully he didn’t have a big injury, we’ll see.

“I have seen a lot of spark in him.”