Aston Villa's summer signing Micah Richards has urged for improvement in the performances of the West Midlands club.

Villa have finished 15th and 17th in the past two seasons but managed to make the FA Cup final under recently appointed manager Tim Sherwood in May.

According to Richards, who recently joined from Manchester City, the time has come for a club as big as Villa to finally move away from the Premier League doldrums.

"It's is a massive club," Richards said.

"The position in the last two years has not been good enough, but if we hold on to the best players we'll have a good season."