The Eagles – winless in eight – host a Brentford side who themselves have lost their last four Premier League matches.
But the statistic does not tell the full story, Richards feels, with Palace producing strong performances in that spell against sides who have impressed in Europe in recent months, including West Ham, Liverpool and Manchester City.
The defender-turned-midfielder said of recent displays: “I think that's what gives us confidence going forward.
“Even though results might not have gone our way, I think performances have, and that's a real positive point of view to have. Hopefully, at some point, they'll turn around, and those losses and ties will turn into wins.
“That’s the only thing that's going to get us through this form: sticking together. We know we’ve had some good performances, but just some unlucky results. We know that if we continue the performances, the results at some point will eventually go our way.”
One such moment of misfortune saw Palace – after creating some decent openings against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge on Wednesday evening – concede a late penalty kick to lose their most recent fixture.
Richards reflected: “I think we were very unlucky with the penalty at the end, but we were in the game for the whole time.
“We may have missed out on the point or even three, but again, we’re trying not to look too much backwards, and trying to move forwards, and hopefully collect points [against Brentford].
“I try to find the positive in every negative. I think we played really well [at Chelsea], but again, I'm probably my biggest critic, so of course there are some negatives that I'd like to work on.
“I try not to let it weigh too much on me because we have a game coming up. I'm glad to have been on the pitch during the game [on Wednesday]. I'm glad we played well for so long, but were unlucky with the result.”
