Micah Richards exclusive: Erling Haaland's changing game, how Vincent Kompany became 'one of Europe's best coaches', Specsavers' Best Worst Team…and NOT taking inspiration from Gary Neville

Micah Richards has backed Manchester City to take the Premier League title race with Arsenal to the wire largely thanks to the efforts of Erling Haaland, while he also claimed to have predicted former team-mate Vincent Kompany becoming a leading manager amid the Belgian's fine work with Bayern Munich. Richards was speaking exclusively to GOAL as part of Specsavers' Best Worst Team campaign.

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  Richards backs Man City to scare Arsenal

  Richards played 245 times for City from 2005 to 2015 after coming through their academy, and he expects his former side to make a strong push to reclaim their Premier League title this season. Arsenal had led by as many as six points, but that gap is now down to only two following a mixed run of results.

  "I think there'll be a title race all the way to the end," Richards told GOAL. "I think Arsenal have been playing out of their skin, five points clear then a few wobbles, and then Man City are only two points behind now, so anything can happen. Man City aren't controlling games like they used to but they're still getting over the line.

  "When you're scoring that many goals, if you look at the Fulham game, they won't be happy with the goals they conceded but [Rayan] Cherki's done really well, [Jeremy] Doku's stepped up this season, [Phil] Foden's back to his best and Haaland's been absolutely phenomenal. To be fair, Nico Gonzalez in midfield playing there on his own at times when Foden and Cherki play higher and Bernardo Silva's having to protect at certain times, he's had a key role in the loss of Rodri, that injury would hurt any team but Gonzalez has done really well."

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  How Haaland has evolved to help new team-mates

  Haaland leads the Premier League Golden Boot charts with 17 goals already this term, with Brentford's Igor Thiago his nearest challenger on 11. The Norwegian has been praised for evolving his game to become more of a team player, and Richards believes the striker is doing more to adapt to some of his new team-mates.

  "I would say his movement is a little bit different," Richards elaborated. "You don't want to give Haaland a chance as he'll score it. I did some analysis on him last season. When the ball was on, say, the right-hand side, he'd always go to the second post all the time. It sort of made it easier for defenders to know what he's going to do. Now, I think his movement in the box…he's a marked man all game. Sometimes two and three around him. People say he doesn't touch the ball, but he hasn't an opportunity to touch the ball because he's got so many players around him.

  "What he's done now, his movement's cleverer in a low block. He's going to the front post then back again, he's going to the back post then back. Even his goal last week [against Crystal Palace], that was a typical, 'OK, I know where the ball's going to come to me', but he's sort of adapting to the players he's playing with as well instead of just staying in one position, thinking 'who's on the ball, what run do I need to make?', that's been different. In terms of goal scoring, he's always going to outscore everyone."

• How Kompany planted seeds to become top manager

  During his peak years at City, Richards was captained by Kompany, with the pair notably winning the 2011-12 Premier League title as part of the same backline. Though the ex-England international has gone into punditry, the Belgian turned his hand to management and is currently head coach of Bayern Munich, with Harry Kane claiming Kompany is the boss who has got the most out of him.

  "Yeah, 100 percent," he answered without hesitation when asked if he foresaw Kompany's transition into a leading manager coming even during their playing days together. "I knew straight away he'd be a coach, we even said that. There might even be an early interview of me, you know when people ask who's going to be a manager, I said [Pablo] Zabaleta and Kompany. Zabaleta is assistant coach for Albania with Sylvinho, and then with Kompany, I just knew because he was a lot smarter than the average footballer. I don't mean that in a bad way, but he was intellectual in terms of the things he wanted to do. He always wanted to look a little bit deeper and being a leader on the pitch came easy to him. That was always one part. Has he got the leadership skills? Yes. Has he got the tactical skills to do it?

  "He'd also challenge managers over the right thing to do. For example, we had [Manuel] Pellegrini, he used to hold the edge of the box. One time, he said to the defenders, 'we can do that and we don't want to disrespect the manager, but if it's not on, we have to do something different'. So we had an alternate angle of doing things. You could just see he took the responsibility of doing the best for the team when he thought it was right.

  "So when he goes to Burnley and they get 100 points in the Championship, OK yes he got relegated and had a lot to spend, but the reason Bayern Munich wanted him was because he had a style of play and he didn't shy away from that, which a lot of managers when things aren't going right they'd completely change everything. He didn't, he stuck to his principles and it got him the job at Bayern Munich. And yes, he's in a league where he should win, but in terms of the way they're playing and the confidence of the unbeaten run they were on, he's phenomenal. He'll be one of the best coaches in Europe for sure."

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• 'Zero inspiration' from close friend Neville

  Richards is the latest high-profile sports star to partner with Specsavers for their Best Worst Team campaign, following on from the likes of Harry Redknapp, Ella Toone and Luke Littler. As part of the collaboration, Richards became a coach at Sunday League side Warley FC, who lost 18 of 20 matches during 2024-25, conceding 81 goals and winning only once.

  But in Richards' first game on board, Warley won 1-0 against an opponent they had lost 8-1 to last season. Close friend Gary Neville was also a coach as part of the Best Worst Game initiative, but following his disastrous spell as manager of Valencia, Richards claimed he did not look to his fellow Sky Sports pundit for any guidance whatsoever.

  "I got inspiration from Gary Neville!" Richards boomed with his trademark laugh. "When Specsavers ring Big Meeks, I'm ready for the call. I've been trying to tell them for a while now, my eyes are not great, I've needed glasses for years and years and years. When I played, I never wore glasses, ever. So I was waiting for Specsavers to give me the call, and when they said they were partnering up with Warley, I was like, 'it's a match made in heaven'. I couldn't wait.

  "To do that and be sponsoring a team at grassroots level is amazing. All these teams, they've got people behind the scenes who do so much hard work but don't get the recognition. So for Specsavers to come in, give them the budget they need, the awareness they need was brilliant. I absolutely love it.

  "[Sunday League] is massively important. Especially all the guys I know, we all started in Sunday League. It's a level that needs more respect. So many players come from it, so many diamonds, it's got that community feel. Not everyone's going to play in the Premier League, but Sunday League is class. People are working nine-to-five and then getting up to go play on a Sunday. It shows their true passion for the game. I love it."