The Blues right-back is set to face the Gunners after missing the controversial 2-1 defeat at Chelsea with a calf injury and expects the in-form striker to be a handful.
City triumphed at the Emirates in the Carling Cup barely a fortnight ago, but Richards said: “Arsenal didn’t have their strongest side out and still played some good football.
“They didn’t have Robin van Persie, who is in terrific form now. He’ll need watching and we have to make sure we mark him correctly, but he’s not the only threat they have in the team.
“But if we’re 100 per cent and everyone’s up for the game, we can get back to winning ways. It’s hard for teams to come here now. With the fans behind us, it’s like an extra man.”
Micah is philosophical about City’s first Premier League defeat, which featured a stonewall penalty appeal for a foul on David Silva that was rejected with the Blues 1-0 ahead.
He said: “I wouldn’t say Chelsea deserved to win in the end, but they did. We didn’t deserve to win at QPR, so you live with it.
Sometimes you’ve got to take it on the chin
“I don’t think it was a shock that we lost. Chelsea are a good team - if we’d lost to a side lower down then we’d call it a blip, but Chelsea are a good team in good form.
“We’ll just concentrate on what we’re trying to do. We never thought about going through the season unbeaten. That was other people, and now the run’s come to an end anyway.
“We’ll just move on. It’s important that we play like we have been doing in every game - if we play against Arsenal the way we did in the first half at Chelsea, we should have no problems.”
