Dunne sets sights on Europe
Richard Dunne believes a place in Europe could catapult Manchester City towards a golden future.
City tackle West Ham in a crucial FA Cup quarter-final at Eastlands tonight knowing victory could leave them just one win away from a place in next season’s UEFA Cup.
With Champions League-bound Chelsea and Liverpool still in the competition, a favourable semi-final draw could open up a European place by default as runners-up in the competition.
And Dunne is convinced City’s revival could really start gathering momentum if they were the ones to benefit.
“Europe is the next step for the club and something we really want to achieve,” said the Irish international.
“It was one of our targets at the start of the season and, while it is looking quite difficult as far as the league is concerned, we could be only two wins away from doing it in the FA Cup.
“I am sure if we did get into Europe, we could attract even better players than we have now who could get us in every season.”
With the exception of manager Stuart Pearce, keeper David James and currently injured striker Andy Cole, the Blues squad are heading into unchartered territory as far as the FA Cup is concerned.
Not since they lost to Tottenham in the 1981 final replay have City made the last four and most of their players have an equally unsuccessful record.
It just makes it even more frustrating the Blues have just a 48-hour build-up to the contest, which led Pearce to gamble by leaving eight men out of Saturday’s home defeat to Wigan.
“It doesn’t really make sense and it is not fair on either ourselves or West Ham,” he said.
“We are talking about the biggest cup competition in the world. It is an important occasion, not just for the players but the country as a whole and these matches should be on a weekend.
“I suppose you could argue not having much time to think about the game is a good thing but the preparation is not ideal and I am sure it would not have been that difficult to move one set of Premiership matches to midweek to accommodate the quarter-finals.”
Pearce will be forced to take late checks on the fitness of Claudio Reyna, Antoine Sibierski and striker Georgios Samaras, who all picked up knocks against Wigan, before finalising his line-up.
