Everton vs Manchester City preview - Lukaku: Stones should stay

Posted Saturday, August 22, 2015 by PA

Romelu Lukaku has urged team-mate John Stones to stay with him in what is a "good situation" at Everton rather than join the striker's former club Chelsea.

Lukaku, 22, left Stamford Bridge permanently last summer after finding regular football hard to come by.

The Belgium international, who had loan spells from Chelsea with the Toffees and West Brom before that, feels 21-year-old England defender Stones is at the right club to nurture his development.

"To be fair John is in a good situation at a good club which believes in him," Lukaku told several national newspapers.

"He is playing and is learning a lot from (defender) Phil Jagielka. He's been here two years now but this is the year where he really needs to confirm he is the top player he can be.

"This club has massive potential, with the players we have and the ambition the manager has. He is in a good place. He's on to a good thing."

Stones has been the subject of interest from Chelsea throughout the summer, with Everton rejecting big-money bids and repeatedly saying the player is not for sale.

Despite the saga, Stones has played both games of the Toffees' 2015/16 Barclays Premier League campaign so far, impressing as they drew 2-2 at home with Watford before stunning Southampton 3-0 at St Mary's last week.

It was reported on Friday that Stones is close to putting in a transfer request, but Everton manager Roberto Martinez said he was not aware of that and that it would not change the club's stance if he did.

Lukaku feels Everton have collected a strong core of young talent that can only get better if they stick together.

"We are young, but we have a lot of potential," Lukaku - scorer of a brace against Southampton - added.

"We had a great first year when I came here. Last year we had a very hard year, a very, very tough year (when Everton finished 11th in the Premier League, 12 months on from coming fifth).

"But we'll learn from it. He's (Stones) in a good situation. He needs to keep on doing what he's doing. He has the Euros (Euro 2016) coming up, so why go?"

Lukaku was speaking ahead of Everton's home league clash with Manchester City on Sunday.

City boss Manuel Pellegrini is interested in points, not records, as he bids to maintain his side's superb start to the season.

City can equal a 103-year-old club record of nine successive top-flight wins if they beat Everton.

Pellegrini's men won their final six Barclays Premier League games last season to put some gloss on a generally frustrating campaign.

They have carried the momentum into the new term with back-to-back 3-0 demolitions of West Brom and champions Chelsea.

Pellegrini did oversee eight successive league wins during the 2013-14 title-winning season but not since 1912, also across two seasons, have City bettered such a sequence.

Equalling it would be a notable achievement - and City could then set a new record against Watford the following week - but Pellegrini is focused only on the bigger picture.

The 61-year-old said: "It matters to have three more points in the table and it is very important to continue in the same way we played the first two games, because we must be a consistent team during the whole season.

"But if that is a new record, that is a thing for me that is not important."

Pellegrini acknowledges the task ahead of his side could also be a tricky one. Everton have also made an unbeaten start and were impressive as they beat Southampton 3-0 last weekend with two goals from Lukaku.

Pellegrini added: "It is a difficult challenge. They are always a difficult team, they play very good football.

"In the first game maybe they didn't play very well against Watford but they scored two goals. In the second game they played very well and scored three goals.

"They have Lukaku in a good moment and they have players coming back from a lot of injuries. We must concentrate very much and play with a lot of intensity if we want to win there."

City are unlikely to give a full debut to their new B£32million signing Nicolas Otamendi this weekend with Pellegrini set to keep faith with captain Vincent Kompany and Eliaquim Mangala in central defence.

But midfielder Fabian Delph, controversially signed from Aston Villa for B£8million in the summer, is in contention to play having overcome his pre-season hamstring injury.