Manchester City captain Vincent Kompany has vowed to come back stronger from his injury problems and guide the club to silverware this season.
The Belgium international has been plagued by a troublesome calf throughout the campaign, limiting to him to just 10 appearances in the Premier League.
His latest return ended in a 2-1 defeat at home to title rivals Tottenham on Sunday.
Kompany came through the match unscathed and is confident his issues are now behind him after nearly two months out.
"I prepared in the right way. If you could see me when I am not playing, you would understand why I say I always come back stronger," he is quoted as saying by The Guardian.
"I found out what the problem might be and it's not something that should be a problem for the long term. I need to manage it for the first few months but that is one thing I have got out of the last six weeks.
"Some people get their heads down and start whining about why they are not playing. I am thinking I could have been a bit quicker or a bit more mobile or I could have worked on this or that. I do that all the time while injured – and that is why I come back stronger.
"I've worked extremely hard. There's always that part that people don't see, the things you do behind the scenes. I've just been grafting to make sure I get the most out of the rest of this season and the rest of my years.
"I look after everything now. I have got a certain amount of time left to play and want to make the most out of it. I don't want to let anything slip."
Kompany acknowledged Sunday's defeat to Spurs was a setback to City's Premier League title hopes, but after their dramatic success in 2011-12, the skipper knows there is still time to turn things around.
He added: "We're really disappointed that we gave away two or three chances to concede two goals.
"Other than that, we need to take some positives out of this performance. No one is allowed to give up on anything.
"It's a setback but we wouldn't know our personal history well if we didn't expect us to kick on from here. This Premier League is crazy and that's why we're just not going to give up."
