RAHEEM STERLING’S trophy cabinet could be full to bursting by the middle of next month.
Last weekend the Manchester City ace was nominated for the PFA Player of the Year award — and he was on the shortlist for Young Player of the Year, too.
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The England ace, 24, is also among the favourites to win the Football Writers’ Association award, with voting due to close later this month.
Yet he admits none of those gongs would mean anything if Pep Guardiola’s men miss out on the Premier League — and blow a golden chance at a domestic Treble.
Five more wins between now and May 18 — starting at Old Trafford tonight — and Sterling will have made history with his team-mates.
And it is that prospect of being the first English side to win the league, FA Cup and League Cup, rather than any personal glory, that is driving on Sterling during his outstanding season.
He said: “It’s nice to be recognised on that front but, to be honest, if we don’t win the Premier League, I don’t really want to be in contention.
“What I want to do is win the Premier League, win the FA Cup, then think about stuff like that. Even though the awards are before that.
“Without that, it doesn’t mean much to me really.”
Despite the disappointment of last week’s Champions League exit, Sterling admits City would have “bitten your hands off” if they had been offered this at the start of the season.
It’s nice to be recognised on that front but, to be honest, if we don’t win the Premier League, I don’t really want to be in contention.
Raheem Sterling
With the Carabao Cup already in the bag, City are in the box seat to win back-to-back league titles and favourites to win the FA Cup.
He said: “There are four games to go, five including the Watford one in the final.
“If someone had said at the start of the season, ‘If you win those four, you win the league’ we’d bite their hand off.
“To be in this position now, to know you’re in control, it’s a great feeling.
“It’s a great position to be in, something if we don’t do we’ll be very disappointed in ourselves.”
City’s hopes of an unprecedented Quadruple ended in heart-breaking fashion at the hands of Spurs — with Sterling seeing an injury-time clincher ruled out by VAR.
Yet there was no time to dwell on that with a rematch with Mauricio Pochettino’s men and now this derby coming round quickly.
He said: “Pep told us to be angry the day after, but on the match day make sure you’re ready and focused.
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“We work so hard all season, travelling miles and miles to be in this position, and to lose in that way was hard to take.
“But this is why we play because we love it so much so we had to change quickly.”
City will be confident of winning at Old Trafford for a third straight season — particularly after United’s dismal showing at Everton on Sunday.
Sterling says they will need to beware of a response from Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s men — but they will go there and look to take control of the match.
He said: “A game like that, a stadium like that, it’s all about if you want the ball, if you can be in control of the game.
“Pep has always wanted that. If we’re away nothing changes, it’s always to have the ball and control.
“It will be a massive game with their fans as well, that I know will be loud and raring.
“We’ve got to try at times when it is difficult to get the tempo back to how we want to play.
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“That’s a massive factor for this game.
“We know the players that they have within the team that can harm you at any moment.
“They’ve gone through a slight blip but I can guarantee on Wednesday they’ll be up and running, ready to go, chasing us down.
“It’ll always be a massive game at Old Trafford but we know we’ve got to treat it as any other game throughout the whole season, like we have been doing. Nothing changes.
“People keep asking, ‘Is it really just another game?’ but it is. We can’t over-think it.
“We’ve got to go home and relax. If you like watching Netflix, watch that, chill out, and when it comes that’s when we’ll be up and running and ready to go.”
Sterling is close to meeting his own goals target for the season.
With 17 in the Premier League, he has just one fewer than last season.
The way he is playing at the moment, it will not be long before that one is chalked off and he can focus purely on helping his pals out.
He said: “I didn’t say I need to score this many but last season I said I wanted to score 15 in the league, and scored 18. This season I need to go better than last season.
“What you do as a winger, if you can contribute those numbers and assists, you can help your team compete for trophies at the end of the year.”
