Villa’s Richards accepts misconduct charge

Richards had until 6pm on Thursday to respond to the charge, but Villa posted on Twitter on Friday: “Micah Richards admits an FA charge of misconduct, relating to an incident at the end of the Swansea match”.

After Villa’s opening-day win over Bournemouth, the team have picked up just one draw and suffered eight defeats, which resulted in the sacking of manager Tim Sherwood.

“I can’t ever say we won’t get relegated because that would be naive”.

“We have got to stay positive”, he said.

Garde, 49, is keen on bringing Lyon coaches Bruno Genesio and Gerald Baticle with him but the French club’s president Jean-Michel Aulas has said they are going nowhere.

Aston Villa skipper Micah Richards faces a three-game ban after deciding against an appeal over his improper conduct charge.

The 22-year-old has not made a Premier League appearance for either Villa or Liverpool, whom he joined from Sporting Lisbon in 2013. Should we be there with our players?

Bafetimbi Gomis scored the victor in both of those games but the France striker has failed to score in his last six appearances and holds the unwanted record of being caught offside more than any other Premier League player this season.