Aston Villa player 'wanted' to lose 4-0 at Man City as Micah Richards makes shock claim

Micah Richards claimed that one of his Aston Villa teammates was content losing 4-0 when playing Manchester City.

Richards infamously joined Aston Villa in the summer of 2015 but was restricted to just 31 games for the club across four seasons before retiring.

The former England international chalked up 28 of those appearances during his first season at Villa Park, a dismal campaign that saw the club relegated from the top flight for the first time in the Premier League era on the first occasion since 1986-87.

Villa finished at the foot of the table, winning just three Premier League games all season, and losing on 27 occasions.

And speaking on the Rest is Football podcast Richards revealed that during that campaign one of his team-mates was content losing 4-0 to City.

Richards said: “It was weird going back home to Man City. Everything is just different, you know?

“When you’re at the Etihad [as a Man City player] you think you’re going to win the game, but going there with Villa to Man City… I remember one player said on the coach, I can’t tell you who it was, he said, ‘I’d take 4-0 now’”.

Laughing, Richards continued: “I swear to God, what sort of mentality is that.”

Richards endured a severe knee problem for the final five years of his career, and in 2019 was forced to retire at the age of 31, having made his last professional appearance three years earlier.

Speaking on his injury issues while at Villa, Richards told The Rest Is Football: "I put the doctor at Aston Villa in a real compromising position.

"We weren't even drawing fluid at training, he would come to my apartment and draw 100mls out just so I could train.

"I've apologised to him many times before. What he was doing wasn't illegal, I just want to state that.

"It was my body and I put pressure on him to do that.

"It would swell up three weeks later and I'd do the same. I thought to myself 'This is not good, this, I need to quit'. But I just wanted to justify to myself that I could do it.

"In the end, my knee is horrible."

Topics: Football, Aston Villa, Micah Richards, Manchester City

Chris Byfield

Sport journalist with experience writing on football, rugby, boxing and the Olympics. I'm also a Crystal Palace fan. Please don't hold this against me.