The defender poked us into a first half lead, connecting with a clever Kevin De Bruyne corner at the near post, claiming his first goal of the season.
The hosts struck back shortly after the interval, with Alexis Mac Allister levelling from the penalty spot after City goalkeeper Ederson brought down Darwin Nunez inside the box.
Both sides had chances to snatch all three points as Luis Diaz came close on multiple occasions for Jurgen Klopp’s side, whilst City substitute Jeremy Doku struck the inside of the post with two minutes of normal time left to play.
Both sides were forced to settle for a point and Stones, who spoke to Sky Sports after the game, believes it was a fair reflection of the encounter.
“We created quite a lot of chances early on in the game and probably could have taken a few better and been two or three up and that’s football,” he said.
“We knew what we were coming into here, and the opposition we were playing. We feel a bit deflated in the dressing room. We came here to win. We got a point out of the game and it’s such a difficult place to come, we know that.
“We gave everything we had out there. It’s a bit raw for me still right now to analyse the game, with an expectation and willingness of coming here to win.
“I think they’re a top side and we know what quality they’ve got and what they bring to the game. We’ve had a lot of really good games against them, some wins, some losses here over the years.
“The second half was more them than us and it kind of balanced out. We’ll take a point today.”
The Englishman put in another expert display at the back, winning 100% of his duels, making two clearances and blocking two shots.
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However, it was his attacking contribution which stood out, applying the finish touch to a clever corner kick routine after 23 minutes.
The defender has praised the work of set-piece coach Carlos Vicens in the build up to the game for his role in the goal and believes that the last ten league games are considered as finals with City now sitting one point behind Liverpool and Arsenal.
“Yeah, Carlos [Vicens] worked hard on it in training as we do every week,” he revealed.
“We spotted this and yesterday we worked on it and it came off which was pleasing for me to get on the scoresheet, my first one of the season and to get off the mark in a big game as well.
“Every game is a final for us now. You’ve heard that numerous times from us now. We treat it like that, every game we play, we always give the utmost respect to whoever we’re playing.
“We treat them as finals and must win games. We’ve got to continue and take the positives from today and really look forward to the next game and looking forward, try to go on a nice run.”
