Aston Villa's new boss Remi Garde has declared that he will be sticking with Micah Richards as the club's captain.

Garde took over last week and many believed that the Frenchman would give the armband to another member of his squad.

However, Garde has backed Richards to continue in the role he was given by sacked manager Tim Sherwood at the start of the season.

Garde said: "He is a strong defender, a good guy in the group, an experienced man and he did brilliantly against City."

"He has led the team to this point and I am very pleased with that."

Garde also spoke about his views on captaincy while in charge of former club Lyon: "I don't decide the captain by flicking a coin. The objective is to find the player best at uniting the squad – the man who represents something for the others."

"Captaincy is not an individual award. We play a team sport. A captain has responsibilities and duties. I'm a coach who doesn't think giving the armband to the goalkeeper is necessarily a good thing."