Micah Richards gives bizarre reason for why one Premier League club could plummet down the table this season

Micah Richards has shared his unusual perspective on why he believes Fulham will struggle more over this Premier League season than the club did last term.

The Cottagers finished a respectable 11th under head coach Marco Silva, and enjoyed a spirited run in the FA Cup to the quarter-finals, memorably downing a hapless Manchester United on penalties in the fifth round.

But the west London side have seen a number of outgoings this summer without drawing in significant summer recruits in the window so far.

Silva's side waved goodbye to attacking players including veteran former Chelsea star Willian and Carlos Vinicius, signing only 34-year-old goalkeeper Benjamin Lecomte from Montepellier with less than a month to go before the deadline.

Fulham have won all three of their pre-season tune-ups, against Nottingham Forest, Al-Ittihad, and Eintracht Frankfurt, but will be put to the test competitively against Brighton next weekend.

And speaking on their The Rest is Football podcast, neither Richards nor Alan Shearer seemed too confident of the side kicking on for the coming campaign - even if Richard's reasoning was more elaborate than his colleague's.

Fulham finished 11th last Premier League season but could struggle in the upcoming campaign

Neither Alan Shearer nor Micah Richards were positive in their prognosis but Richards had a left-field reason for a mis-step in form

'I don't see them doing as well as they did last year. I've got them sixth-bottom, something like that. I think they'll have too much to have them in a relegation battle, but just below last season,' Shearer said.

'I agree,' Richards said. 'And their media person has stopped them using Snapchat, where you used to get all the insight, the videos and stuff. Great for chemistry -

'Excuse me, what the f*** has that got to do with the prediction, by the way?' Shearer queried, interrupting his co-star.

'Everything, I'm telling you,' Richards added. 'You can't do the videos no more, you go in there, it's going to be silent, there's going to be no banter flying, so it could affect them.

'So I'm going to say just below what they did last season.

'No Snapchat so they're going to be just below what they did last season! That's the reason,' Shearer said in continuing disbelief.

As his peers collapsed into giggles, host Gary Lineker concurred that they might have been lingering on the topic for too long, quipping that there was 'too much c***chat, not enough Snapchat.'

A number of Fulham's stars were active on social media last season, sharing playful snapshots from inside the dressing room with grateful fans.

But Richards appeared to be referencing former Arsenal star Alex Iwobi's 'ban' from the app, which the star explained had been handed out at the end of the season.

The midfielder would often share changing room footage that fans don't often get to see

Iwobi shared that someone within the club had raised the issue of his activity on social media, and that he had been threatened with a fine if he continued to post on the platform.

'For those that are wondering why I haven't been snapping BTS in the changing room, one person in the media team has been saying I haven't been catching the right stuff,' Iwobi said in a Snapchat video.

He added: 'So, there's no more BTS. They also said I might get fined if I continue to do so, they're trying to ban snap in our changing room.

'That's why I ain't been snapping BTS, it's a shame, I know you guys enjoy seeing what my team-mates are like behind the scenes. But, I have to respect the rules.'

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