"I don't want to be known as a second-half-of-the-season player.
"The manager mentioned about starting the season slowly, but I think that is more to do with injuries than performance levels.
"It was the same this year when I was suspended for the first game and then got injured.
"It's hard when you are not involved. All you can do is maintain a belief in your own ability, be patient and wait for your chance.
"I have done that; now I have to keep performing to stay in the side and hope to push on a little bit."
"A couple of weeks ago, people were ruling us out - which was just crazy," he said.
"We are being careful not to shout our mouths off just now, because we have said we were on a winning run before and let it slip straightaway.
"But we are on a run of five now, so we are back in the winning routine again - and seeing both Arsenal and Chelsea draw last weekend just shows what can happen.
"What we have to do is keep winning and try to put a bit of pressure on the top two. Then we will see what the table looks like in January when the push for the end of the season really starts."