Richardson wary of Portsmouth threat
Kieran Richardson expects weakened Portsmouth to provide a huge test for Sunderland on Sunday.
Pompey have lost four key players to the African Cup of Nations but arrive on Wearside after winning nine of their last 10 away games, the only setback being a 4-1 loss at Liverpool the weekend before Christmas.
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Harry Redknapp's men have already won 4-1 at Newcastle this season and comfortably despatched other Premier League strugglers Wigan, Birmingham and Fulham.
But Richardson says Sunderland will be determined to bounce back from their 3-0 FA Cup exit against Wigan last weekend.
He said: "Portsmouth will be weakened because of losing those players, but every game in the Premier League is very hard and they'll still have plenty of players to cause most team trouble.
"It doesn't matter who they put out. They've been in the Premier League a while now and clubs get stronger because of that.
"They will have confidence because they're doing so well.
"People might think this will be an easy game for them because of our recent results, but we have something to say about that.
"Because we're out of the cups now, we've got one game a week for the rest of the season and I'm expecting it will be hard for any team to play against us."
Sunderland's January 2 trip to Blackburn was their last Premier outing, and a 1-0 loss dumped them back into the bottom three.
But with the likes of Richardson and Nyron Nosworthy in contention again, and Carlos Edwards moving towards a return, Richardson expects an improvement.
"I'm sure we will be fine," he said. "Personally, being back out on that pitch has made me really appreciate my football and what it means to be playing football again.
"If my form is good, I expect to be completing 90 minutes of every game from now on and I'm so happy to be back playing.
"Obviously, results have been a downer but we have to stop thinking about losing to Wigan last weekend and concentrate on putting everything into the Portsmouth game.
"I don't have any worries in my mind. We have the coaching staff, the manager and the players and I think we should be OK."
Richardson missed three months of the season with a stress fracture of his back and is eager to make up for lost time.
"I had four weeks in a cast and it was a miserable time for me," he said.
"It's great to be back involved and that's why I'm thinking so positively. The crowd has been nice to me since I came back and the manager has shown faith in bringing me to this club so now I have to repay people."
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Weather for Sunderland
Friday 10 February 2012
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