Kolo Toure admits he has enjoyed being back in the first-team of late and is hoping for more of the same in the coming weeks.

The Ivory Coast defender impressed in the Manchester derby when he replaced Vincent Kompany and was excellent against Newcastle last weekend during the Blues’ 3-1 win.

With the busy festive period coming up, he’s hoping to see more action as he approaches a century of appearances for City.

“I feel good, in fact I feel great,” said the popular centre-back. “It’s always a pleasure for me to be part of the team and play games and I hope to have more games this season.

“Playing against Newcastle was enjoyable and it was a good battle. Cisse and Demba Ba are both really good strikers.

“It was a tough game, but after losing against United, it was really important for us to bounce back, which we did because it’s never easy to go to Newcastle win.

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“I enjoyed playing alongside Matija Nastasic. He’s a good young player, and every game he plays he gets better. It’s great to play with him and I think we did well last weekend.”

Like his brother Yaya, Kolo is warning the Blues need to be on their guard against a Reading side who have already scored seven goals in two games against Arsenal this season and three against Manchester United.

The Royals may have the worst defensive record in the top flight with 36 goals conceded so far, but Brian McDermott’s side also know where the net is with 21 goals bagged to date!

“Reading are a team that we need to take seriously,” he said.

“They lost against Arsenal on Monday but we can see that they can score goals and I think going forward they are really good.

 

They have struggled defensively, but they are a threat so we just need to be conscious of that fact. It won’t be an easy game, I’m certain of it.

 

...Kolo Toure...

 

Kolo will leave for the Africa Cup of Nations in early January and he admits it will be difficult to leave City at such a crucial stage of the season.

“It’s always difficult to go away during the season, it’s not the first time it has happened, either.

“For me, I’m a professional player and you have to deal with every situation that comes along but there is very little we can do about this situation.”