Having recovered from his troublesome injury problems of late, Manchester City right-back Pablo Zabaleta is relishing the challenge of competing for the right-back spot once more, after some impressive displays from Bacary Sagna asserting himself as the Argentine's rival for a starting berth in his preferred position.
Zabaleta turns 31-years-old in January, and neither of the two defenders are young either - naturally they need to be playing on a regular basis to maintain their performance levels. Having featured in Argentina's Copa América campaign, where they were narrowly defeated on penalties to Chile in July's final, Pablo missed out on the club's pre-season tour of Asia and Australia, meaning he would already be behind on their preparations for the campaign itself.
Zabaleta eager to get his season in shape
Bacary Sagna, the former Arsenal man, has stepped into the role commendably well, adding both defensive stability as well as an attacking outlet with his crossing ability - being able to pick out teammates in a flash - for even more opportunities to score from. Zabaleta returned to the fray on Wednesday evening with a late cameo appearance during their narrow, but essential, 2-1 Champions League win over Gladbach.
Sagna has impressed in Pablo's absence, though
Having been out of action for six weeks, Manuel Pellegrini will be reluctant to push him intensely, so the home clash with Newcastle United will probably be too early in terms of featuring for a whole 90 minutes. However, Zabaleta said he's happy to be back amongst proceedings, as well as giving his thoughts ahead of the 3pm kick-off on Saturday.
"It's not my club but for me, it is a real shame to see them in that situation. Newcastle is a club that has a fantastic stadium and great supporters who fill their ground every week. St James' Park is a place I love to play at, and probably the away ground I look forward to playing at the most each season."
However, he was quick to admit that he still hoped City would prevail this weekend: "It doesn't change me wanting to beat them on Saturday, though. We need a good result ourselves and we have to start winning games against, to build on our win over Borussia [Mönchengladbach]."