DUNNE BACKS RICHARDS AS ENGLAND`S BEST

Manchester City skipper Richard Dunne is convinced the sky is the limit for central defensive partner Micah Richards.

The Blues currently sit proudly at the Barclays Premier League summit, the only top flight club still with maximum points; a monumental effort under new boss Sven-Goran Eriksson.

As if that was not enough, the charge to the top has come without conceding a single goal and, to make it especially sweet, their latest victims were bitter rivals Manchester United.

Dunne and Richards have struck up a solid partnership and many believe 19-year-old Richards should start against Germany at Wembley on Wednesday.

Right-back is still a more likely option for the Birmingham-born teenager, with England coach Steve McClaren - who made Richards the youngest defender to play for England in last November's friendly draw with Holland - still of the opinion he gets caught out of position slightly too often.

Yet for Dunne, there is no better English defender around at present.

And, if Richards keeps developing at his present rate, the Irishman cannot see anything to prevent him becoming a major star.

"Micah is outstanding," said Dunne.

"He gets better every game and there really is no limit to what he can do.

"Whoever comes up against him, whatever test he is set, he just blows them away.

"It is hard to remember he is only 19. At the moment I would say he is as good a centre-half as England have."

Concentration issues apart, it is difficult to spot a weakness in Richards' game.

As Eriksson has noted, the youngster has enough pace to get himself out of trouble should the need arise.

At Eastlands, he came out on top in numerous one-on-one battles with Carlos Tevez and, alongside Dunne, stood firm like a rock against the tidal wave of United attacks.

"In the last couple of years, he got his experience as a right-back," observed Dunne.

"Now he is playing centre-half, which is his favourite position.

"In the last three games he has shown he has pace and power and everything else that you need.

"Nobody can run past him or beat him in the air. He has just been outstanding."

Dunne accepts City's start to the season could not have gone any better. And what the 28-year-old Dubliner was really pleased with was the durability of a team Eriksson is still moulding together.

There may be plenty of new faces around Eastlands at the moment but there is also plenty of character, which, if not quite turning City into title-winning material, should take them quite a long way this term.

"That is three wins and three clean sheets, it doesn't get any better than that," he said.

"I suppose it is exactly what the manager would have dreamt of.

"The good thing is we have battled to get these results and showed a lot of spirit.

"Even against United, when we had our backs against the wall and found ourselves under a lot of pressure, we managed to cope with it."

Despite such startling success, Eriksson is still hoping to bring in some more new blood ahead of Saturday's trip to Arsenal.

However, the signs are he is abandoning an attempt to sign another goalkeeper following Kasper Schmeichel's excellent contribution to the City cause.

Although the 20-year-old needed to rely on Richards to help him out after a couple of mistakes, Schmeichel has largely been a solid presence during the first week of the campaign.

So, while current Italy second choice Marco Amelia and Bolton's Jussi Jaaskelainen have both been heavily linked with a move to the Eastlands outfit, the indications are neither will eventually arrive.

"Finding a keeper that is better than the ones I have is not easy," said Eriksson.

"Kasper is very good in training. He is quick and you don't find many keepers better than him on the line.

"He takes everything and he almost destroys the confidence of our strikers in shooting practice."

Taken From =football365=