‘ENGLAND JUST LIKE MAN CITY’

JOHN STONES insists England can turn on the style like Manchester City. Pep Guardiola has turned City into the Premier League’s great entertainers and they could have a strong presence in the England line-up, with Stones, Kyle Walker and Raheem Sterling (below) all set to start at Wembley.

But Gareth Southgate knows that plenty of England managers before him have struggled to get players reproducing their best club form for their country.

City defender Stones believes England have got enough talent in their squad to step up with courageous and attacking performances on the international stage.

He said: “We have the players to do it. It is difficult to bring how you play in the Premier League into international football – it is so different.

“But we are always striving to be better and there is a lot of likeness between how City play to international football, as with Tottenham and various other clubs.

“To try to gel those things is difficult – I suppose that is where football is evolving to. It is changing, it is not where it was 20 years ago. As long as England win and keep clean sheets and keep bettering themselves every year – and hopefully making the nation proud – that is all that matters.“

Stones has had a stop-start England career largely because he has been in and out of his club side but he believes his performance against Chelsea on Saturday might have been his best yet.

“As a player I have always been moving in the right direction,” Stones said.

“Everyone has their ups and downs. We started this season well as a team at club level and it was an important match against Chelsea.

“They won the league last season, and it was important to keep the run going and keep another clean sheet. “Defensively, on a personal level, maybe it was one of the best games we have played in.

“I am enjoying my football – just trying to keep improving day in, day out, mentally, physically and tactically on the training pitch. And I think the hunger to keep improving and keep getting to more targets in my game is helping me to get better.

“Keeping clean sheets has spoken for itself over the last five or six games. I am enjoying my football and any player who has had a dip will say that the best bit is when you are enjoying it. Winning always helps as well.”