Stones: Playing these big games is something I thrive off

The English defender broke the deadlock in the 50th minute before

Fernandinho

adding to the Citizens’ lead with an excellent finish seven minutes from time. It was

John Stones’

first goal in 1,162 days since he scored against Napoli in November 2017.

"I'm just working hard, just trying to play as many games as possible,"

he told Sky Sports.

"I want to give everything to the team and stay true to myself - see what I can do, what I can improve on."

On his goal, he added:

"I was just trying to follow the ball. They held a high line, just to get something on it was great.

"Playing these big games is something I thrive off and I just want to play well."

The Wednesday win over

Manchester United

was the Citizens’ fifth consecutive win in all competitions as

Manchester City

continued their recent good form.

After a poor start to the season,

Stones

believes the mentality instilled by manager

Pep Guardiola

is a big reason for their resurgence.

"[Pep Guardiola] just said, 'Same again, same mentality, same everything,'"

Stones

said

. "We dealt with the problems well and just tried to be more clinical in the final third.

"We had so many chances, great chances, great moves to get into the box and we did a job at the end of the day."

Stones gave tribute to

Manchester City’s

late legend,

Colin Bell

, who passed away at age 74 this week.

"I'd like to send our condolences for Colin Bell and his family,"

Stones

added.

"I think how we played today was a reflection of him. A great moment for us and hopefully he is looking down on us. It was a great occasion, another win against another top team."