Yaya Toure admitted it felt "amazing" to fire his first Barclays Premier League goal of the season and drive champions Manchester City to a crucial 2-0 victory at Aston Villa.
City's talismanic midfielder hit back at criticism of his early-season form with a late goal to break spirited Villa's stubborn resistance, before Sergio Aguero claimed a second at the death.
Ivory Coast star Toure reacted to critics of his form by insisting he is only human, then pledging to help City chase down early-season league leaders Chelsea.
“I think it was amazing,” Toure told Sky Sports of his match-winning strike. “If it was not me it would have been Aguero or Silva. The most important thing is for me to do my best. I’m keeping going: I play for a top side in Europe. And I’ll just do my best to win things again this season.
“It’s not so easy because you have to play every three days. I’m not a machine, I’m a man, but it’s important to keep things going. I have great team-mates around me, and the most important thing is to do my best.”
City's victory sustains pressure on Chelsea, who host Arsenal at Stamford Bridge on Sunday. Manuel Pellegrini's men were able to cut the Blues' Premier League lead to two points with victory at Villa Park.
“I think today was a great victory for us, because it was against a great team working very hard,” said Toure. “The first half was quite difficult for us but in the second half we did the job. Full credit to Villa they played very well in defence but in the second half we did the job.”
Admitting he relishes any chance to push to the top of City’s midfield, Toure predicted it will be the usual suspects competing for the title once more.
"I think if the manager gives me possibility to play more in front I'm always delighted, but there's always a player on me so it's quite difficult. We have a proper team, it's difficult for Liverpool at the moment, but they and Arsenal will be up there as well," he said.
“From my point of view it will be the same as last year with the teams fighting it out.”
Villa boss Paul Lambert praised his side's battling qualities despite a "gruesome" four-game run against Liverpool, Arsenal, Chelsea and now City.
“I thought it was a big effort from us,” said Lambert despite Villa’s third-straight league loss. “The two lads who scored their goals are probably worth more than our entire team put together. I’ve never known a run as gruesome as that one, but we’ve come through it without anyone beating us heavily.
“So we’ve nothing to be ashamed of.”
Lambert hailed striker Christian Benteke's return after five months out with a torn Achilles, revealing Gabriel Agbonlahor was withdrawn after feeling "dizzy" in the warm-up.
“He didn’t feel good in the warm-up, he was light-headed and dizzy,” said Lambert of Agbonlahor. “So you can’t take any chances. Getting Christian back was a bonus. He’s only been back a number of weeks but he showed signs he’s getting back.”
