Manchester City will have a good chance of competing for the Premier League title if they keep up the level they showed at Chelsea for the remainder of the season, according to John Stones.
An experimental City formation contributed to a sloppy first half at Chelsea, but two double-changes on 45 and 60 minutes changed the game in the Blues' favour, and substitutes Jack Grealish and Riyad Mahrez combined to score the only goal in a hard-fought 1-0 win.
The three points lifts City back to within five points of leaders Arsenal, after last week's draw against Everton opened the gap to seven points. However, Arsenal were held by Newcastle on Tuesday, and centre-back Stones says City showed their title credentials at Stamford Bridge in response.
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Stones stopped short of declaring City as favourites for the title, instead looking at the bigger picture, but he did warn that his side's performance was the level they want to be at to catch Arsenal.
"It's a big three points, after the other day, the over riding feeling was we've dropped two points and should have got more out of the game," he told Sky Sports. "We wanted to put it right today. Especially how we played in the second half was brilliant and to come away with three points is just what we needed.
"We don't focus on the table so early, as the manager said before, there's 66 points to play for, 63 now. There's still a long way to go, we've got to take it a game at a time. In previous years we've been on big winning runs. We've got to keep the momentum going and if we perform as well as we did today I'm sure we'll have a fighting chance at the end of the season."
Pep Guardiola offered a similar assessment of the significance of three points at Chelsea, insisting that Arsenal remain the team to beat.
He told BBC Sport: "Well it could be seven points, or 10 or eight, but now the gap is five points. We have to look at ourselves but I have to admit, the way they are playing, Arsenal deserve to be there. It's not just about the points, the way they are playing. Even when they lost against [Manchester] United and drew with Newcastle, the quality and the level they are playing is so good."
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