John Stones identifies Man City quality that should worry Liverpool FC and Arsenal

Manchester City had to withstand pressure at Bournemouth to defend their narrow lead and earn three vital points in the Premier League title race - and John Stones said the hard-fought win reminded him of the games that led the Blues to the treble last season.

City won their game in hand over Liverpool to move to within a point of the Premier League leaders, and still a point ahead of Arsenal. The top three have now all played 26 games.

At Bournemouth, City were again guilty of wasting chances and have only scored once in each of their last three games. But back-to-back 1-0 wins and two vital clean sheets prompted Pep Guardiola to call his side 'Supermen' for their ability to dig deep amid fatigue and injury problems - something Stones echoed after the win at the Vitality Stadium.

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Asked by City media about the excitement of competing for trophies at the business-end of the season, Stones' response compared the narrow win at Bournemouth to the hard-fought victories that City produced at the same point last season en-route to the treble.

"That's what we're all here for," Stones said of the prospect of winning more titles. "It's what everyone wants us to do, and what we want to try and recreate what we did last season. And that's still possible.

"And games like today is one of the reasons why we made that possible last season. So we go to the next game and have the same focus and try and do the same thing, get another win, and move to the next stage. With the team that we've got, the squad that we've got I'm sure we can do it."

Even if