John Stones taunts Arsenal and Liverpool with 'gold badges' message to Man City title rivals

John Stones has sent a cheeky message to Arsenal and Liverpool by reminding them that Manchester City have gold badges on their shirts because they are the champions. He said after their big game with Liverpool, which ended 1-1, that City's team is determined to win again and keep their special badge.

«We have the gold Premier League badges on our shirt for a reason and we want to defend that,» Stones said. «We're proud to be the champions and we want to do it again and again.

»We know there are 10 games left and a lot to play for. The best thing we do is concentrate on us and the next game coming up. Every game is a final for us — that's how we treat it. Going forward, we're excited.

«We obviously wanted the three points and believed we could get them out of the game. But to come away with a point, we should be proud of ourselves and how we played. We managed the bad moments, which we knew were always going to happen in these big games.

»Coming to Anfield is always difficult and we have to give respect to Liverpool and how they played. We've got to be proud of ourselves and take a point."

On his goal, a cleverly-worked move from a corner dispatched by Kevin De Bruyne, Stones said: «Straight from the training ground. Big credit to the guys who put the set pieces together and Kevin for the quality of putting it in there.»

«They put their ideas across to us, we worked on it in training yesterday and it came off, which was great. I'm happy and pleased I got on the scoresheet.»

«I've been trying hard to contribute up the other end of the pitch and it's nice for me — a first one of the season and hopefully I can get some more now.»