John Stones makes Arsenal admission as he issues strong warning to Man City rivals

Manchester City defender John Stones admitted it wasn’t good enough to finish third behind Arsenal last season – and is convinced the club can bounce back in the new campaign

John Stones is convinced Manchester City have the “fire in our bellies” to regain their Premier League title. City surrendered the crown they won in the previous four seasons to Liverpool during an underwhelming 2024-25 campaign.

Defender Stones believes lessons have been learned and has detected a strong desire to put things right since the players have reported for pre-season training.

The England international said: “It was humbling for us after all the success that we’ve had. It makes us realise what we’ve done, what we’ve achieved over the years and how proud we should be, but we’re obviously frustrated at what we did last season. It’s not what we want to replicate.

“To finish third, three or four points behind Arsenal is – to our standards – not good, (nor) how we played through the season. We’ve got to put that right and get back to our identity, get back to winning matches and having that presence about us and believing in ourselves as a team.

“I’m sure we’ll find that and bring it back because it was tough last season to go through what we did. We’ve definitely come back with that fire in our bellies to go and achieve.”

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Stones is now fit after an injury-hit past season but was not risked by manager Pep Guardiola during the Club World Cup in the summer. Despite not featuring, the 31-year-old made emphatically clear when speaking to media during that tournament that he would not be leaving the club.

Entering the final year of his contract, there had been speculation about his future but the former Everton player hopes that has now been shut down.

He said: “It’s laughable to me. I understand why people do it but there’s nothing to comment on. I love it here, nothing’s happening. I’m here to fight and play and hopefully win some trophies.”

Stones was speaking as City held an open training session alongside the club’s women’s side at the Joie Stadium on the fringe of their training complex on Tuesday. City now have a friendly at Palermo on Saturday before facing Wolves in their opening Premier League game at Molineux on August 16.

The side is taking on a different shape with new signings Rayan Cherki, Rayan Ait-Nouri and Tijjani Reijnders having been integrated during the Club World Cup, in which City reached the last 16.

Their arrivals continued a squad refresh after the signings of Omar Marmoush, Nico Gonzalez, Abdukodir Khusanov and Vitor Reis in January.

Stones said: “Things evolve, football evolves, and the guys that have come in have been great. It takes a bit of time, obviously, to get used to the style of play, what’s expected, but the guys have come in for a reason.

“With the quality that they’ve got, the aspects of the game are different from what we’ve had in the past. I’m excited to play with them and see what they do.”

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