The Eagles’ club-record unbeaten away run in the Premier League came to a halt with defeats at Manchester City and Newcastle United – but they go into Saturday’s game at Selhurst Park having won their last four home matches in all competitions.
“We just have to put it behind us and keep looking forward,” Richards said of the midweek result at St. James’ Park.
“Each game coming up is the biggest one, so we try not to look too far back or look too far forward. We're just focused on the one ahead of us right now.
“You know, we’ve got form [at Selhurst Park], so that's good. But again, we’ve had a rough week that just passed.
“Regardless, we're looking to continue the form that we've had at home – and hopefully have that sort of form throughout the rest of the season.”
Palace have scored 10 times in that sequence of home victories, with goalscorers varying, and Richards added: “It helps a lot. The guys up top, they do a great work. They score a lot of goals, so it makes our job in the back a little bit easier.
“Regardless, I think everybody wants to score. Guys like Ebs [Eze], Isma [Sarr], JP [Mateta], all those guys are really tough going forward. I like training against them, so I can only imagine what other teams think!
“Again, they make our lives a little bit easier in the back, but hopefully we can make theirs easy as well.”
Richards himself scored his first goal of 2024/25 a week ago at the Etihad Stadium – a bullet header from a corner kick, in what was Palace’s 15th goal of the season from a set piece, a Premier League high this season.
The defender confirmed: “We do a lot of work during the week on set pieces. I think we reap the benefits on the weekend.
“I think that's one of the things the gaffer [Oliver Glasner] wanted to change coming in last season, but we didn't quite have that much time last season.
“This season we really, from day one, focused on it – and again, I think you can see the results now.”
Match details
- Crystal Palace v Bournemouth
- Saturday, 19th April
- 15:00 BST
- Selhurst Park
- Live audio commentary on Palace TV+