John Stones shines vs Crystal Palace
Manchester City were in Premier League action on Sunday evening.
Following Manchester United’s draw with Liverpool earlier in the day, the Crystal Palace clash represented a huge chance for City to put their mark on this season’s title race.
A win over Palace and a win this week vs Aston Villa (City’s game in hand), would see the Sky Blues go top of the Premier League for the first time this season.
And Pep Guardiola’s side are now halfway to achieving that goal after demolishing Crystal Palace by four goals to nil.
Two of those goals came from John Stones, who has been in simply remarkable form of late. Stones had this to say post-Palace:
“Two goals for myself and obviously I’m delighted! I put a lot of pressure on myself to score goals. I need to contribute and bring that to my game. I’ve been trying hard and the hard work on the training pitch are paying off. I’m glad to contribute.”
Stones set to be rewarded for fine by Gareth Southgate
The Palace game marked the stopper’s eighth start in Man City’s last nine league outings.
In those eight games, City have conceded just a solitary goal, with Stones and new signing Ruben Dias forming a formidable partnership which has actually seen Aymeric Laporte left on the bench on a number of occasions of late.
Now, following his recent spell of sensational form, Stones looks set to be handed a recall to the England squad by Gareth Southgate.
Stones hasn’t featured for the Three Lions for over a year, but as per the Telegraph, Southgate is expected to call up the City centre-back for England’s games in March:
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