John Stones has apologised to Manchester City fans following their 5-1 defeat to Arsenal. The defender labelled his side's performances in the final 30 minutes as 'unacceptable' as City's lacklustre season failed to improve at the Emirates. Pep Guardiola's side looked to have fought their way back into the game when Erling Haaland's equaliser cancelled out Martin Odegaard's opening effort. But just seconds later Thomas Partey restored the Gunners lead before Myles Lewis-Skelly, Kai Havertz and Ethan Nwaneri all got on the scoresheet to secure three points for Mikel Arteta's team. Arsenal remain second in the Premier League, six points behind Liverpool.

City in turn continue in an unfamiliar fourth place and 15 points behind the Reds. Stones was particularly disappointed with the final half an hour, which saw Arsenal score three times and continue to cut through City's backline. "It is difficult," he said following the game. "I think all of us don't take losing well. It is hard to put into words straight after a game like that. Pride hurts. Sorry to the fans that have traveled to come and watch that.

"How we played in the last 30 minutes was not acceptable. Personally and collectively, it's not us. It is not nice to be involved in that when you know it's not your team in those situations. Credit to Arsenal, this is not an easy place to come to. For 65 minutes, we played some great football at times. "We were in the game and it was a swinging point. It swung the wrong way for us. I am angry, upset personally and collectively about how the game finished.".

Stones continued to be critical of how City managed the game in the second period, and admitted he does not know what is going wrong at the Etihad currently. The England international wants his team-mates to stick together however. "We stopped doing the things we meant to" he added. "Difficult for me to put into words. "A lot of different things that I have not figured out why we are not picking up results. The passion is there, the training and everyone has the right intention.

"We have not got to where we are without difficult times and that is through everyone's career right now. We all have to stick together, that's a key point that we don't start to point fingers.". Join our new WhatsApp community and receive your daily dose of Mirror Football content. We also treat our community members to special offers, promotions, and adverts from us and our partners. If you don't like our community, you can check out any time you like. If you're curious, you can read our Privacy Notice.