Stones urges quadruple-chasing Man City to dream big

Pep Guardiola has stated Manchester City winning the quadruple is "almost impossible" but England defender John Stones is daring to dream.

Published : Apr 16, 2019 21:36 IST

John Stones insists his Manchester City team-mates are fighting for an unprecedented quadruple ahead of Wednesday's Champions League quarterfinal second leg against Tottenham.

City reached the FA Cup final with a 1-0 win over Brighton and Hove Albion earlier this month but the EFL Cup winners followed that result with a defeat by the same scoreline in the first leg of their tie against Spurs.

A 3-1 weekend win at Crystal Palace kept Pep Guardiola's side firmly in the hunt for back-to-back Premier League titles, as it approach a pivotal eight days where Spurs returns to the Etihad Stadium for a league encounter before next Wednesday's Manchester derby at Old Trafford.

Guardiola has insisted a clean sweep of major honours is "almost impossible" but, speaking alongside his manager at a pre-match news conference, Stones said the prospect was inspiring the City dressing room as the finish line approaches.

"We're still on for the quadruple and that's the dream we've got to try and achieve, and definitely something we're fighting for every day," he said.

"Personally, I don't think a lot of things are impossible but that's the mindset of different people, I suppose. If you don't dream big you're not going to get anywhere near it.

"I think it comes from within everyone. We have this dream and ambition to do it. Like last season, 100 points had never been done before. We'd won the league quite early and still had that ambition to go on and fight for 100 points and break records. We go in with that mentality again."

Tottenham will be without Stones' England captain Harry Kane after the striker's latest ankle injury setback, while Dele Alli is a doubt after suffering a broken hand during the first leg.

"I think they've got a strong squad and two key players missing," Stones said. "[Kane] is a big miss for them. I don’t think we can concentrate too much on who's playing and who's not.

"From the last game we had our game plan and we stuck to that. After reviewing the game as a team we've found a lot of positives

"We can't concentrate on Harry and Dele not playing. What we've done best through the years I've been here is focus on us and do everything we possible can as players to get that outcome we want."

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