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Ruben Dias and Stones hailed as one of best ever partnerships

Stones, Dias
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Manchester City duo Ruben Dias and John Stones have received praise as one of the best ever partnerships in the Premier League.

John Stones and Ruben Dias have been one of the shining lights for Manchester City in their recent dominance of English football.

The latest victory for the Citizens against West Ham took them to a stunning 20 game win streak across all competitions.

On a day where City struggled for goals upfront, it was their defenders who came to their rescue as Dias and Stones scored the goals that secured them the win.

A big part of City’s impressive season has been dependent on their ever resolute backline.

With Ruben Dias and Stones leading the defense, the Citizens have only conceded a mere 16 goals all season.

The pair have started 16 times together, keeping 12 clean sheets and conceding just three goals. 

They have started drawing comparisons with some all-time greats and the latest claim from Tony Cascarino is a rather ‘big’ one.

Cascarino told talkSPORT: “This is a team that have got two center-halves who are in outstanding form.”

“We could go back and go individually, what Virgil Van Dijk did for Liverpool, what Vincent Kompany, John Terry, Rio Ferdinand, Tony Adams and many more over the years did.”

“I can’t remember a partnership of two playing that well. Stones and Dias have been extraordinary in this run of 20 and before.”

Ex-Chelsea man Joe Cole also weighed in on the pair and described them as ‘unstoppable’.

“No one has ever doubted what he can do on the ball” the former England star said of Stones.”

“He’s probably as technically efficient as a decent striker with the ball at his feet. It was the other side of his game people questioned.”

“Even I was thinking, is he ever going to get there? Then you look at his age, he’s in his mid-twenties, he’s made all his mistakes and he’s learned from it.”

“A young player has come in next to him, Dias, and jolted him because he’s the finished article. It’s very rare a player that young is the finished article like Dias is, it’s a great bit of recruitment.”

“They’ve put those two together and they’ve conceded three goals in 16 games, which is just giving a platform for everyone else. Together they look unstoppable.”

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