Joe Hart says he will fight to stay No1 at Manchester City as he still hasn’t got over the pain of being dropped.
Concerns over the consistency of the keeper has seen boss Manuel Pellegrini ponder strengthening in the summer with Barcelona’s Victor Valdes a free transfer target.
But after a six-week first-team exile, sparked by high-profile blunders in big games against Bayern Munich and Chelsea, Hart has shown improved form with four successive clean sheets boosting City’s Premier League title hopes.
Saturday’s 5-0 win over Fulham was also his 246th appearance for the club, making him the current player with the most games.
And Hart, who joined from Shrewsbury in 2006, said: “It’s something I’m really proud of to be honest.
“I’ve a lot of respect for my past and previous clubs, but I feel I’ve been a City player my whole life and I love playing for this football club. I’m looking forward to building on that record in the future.
“There was definitely a re-focus while I was out of the starting line-up and I quite enjoyed it as I tried to get back on track.
“I wanted to play, but I wasn’t playing so I had to work hard and wait for my chance again.
“I don’t want it to seem as though everything is fine or that it was part of my life that I will forget because I’m still living it and I am trying to live in the moment more recently.
“I don’t feel it’s case of that side of things being really solved. I’m still training hard – as I would be whether I was in or out of the team – and I’m always working to improve my game.
“We are going to get some wonderful opportunities at this club – some I will be playing in, some that I won’t – and I’m just trying to look at things the best I can.”
Hart now wants to end the campaign on a high with a second title in three seasons. City are six points behind leaders Chelsea with three games in hand, and the destiny of the championship is in their hands.
But, with neighbours and reigning champions Manchester United next up at Old Trafford on Tuesday and then Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium, Hart says they are focused on fulfilling their league title dream after ambitious hopes of four trophies at the start of the campaign.
“To win four trophies was always going to be hard, but when you break it down on a match-by-match basis, we can win every game that we go into,” he added. “We’ve got the players and the responsibility within our side to see that and we’re all working together to iron mistakes out.
“Even in the games we’ve won, I don’t think we’ve played particularly to the standard that we’ve set previously. But as much as you want to, I don’t think that it’s possible for any team to do that over the course of nine months.
“I do think we have the squad to win the league. We can't get too wrapped up in the away games we still have to play.
“The fans, players, and staff – everyone needs to pull each other through if we want to get over the line first.
“We still have the chance to do something really special and do something this club hasn’t done for 44 years by winning two trophies in one season. So we need to press on and try and create a bit of history.”
