MANCHESTER -- Vincent Kompany said he was happy to be discussing his goal in Manchester City's 5-0 victory over Crystal Palace on Saturday rather than his persistent injury problems.
City captain Kompany smashed in his side's second goal with a sweet strike as Pep Guardiola's side secured three crucial points in the race for a Champions League spot.
Kompany has now completed five successive Premier League matches -- the same number of appearances he made in the first eight months of the season -- and is looking forward to a time when his injury problems are no longer a talking point.
"The happiest I will be is when nobody asks me about my fitness. We'll see how long it takes you guys to forget about it," the 31-year-old told reporters.
"Of course I'm happy. My favourite place to be is on the pitch with those guys. I've watched them a lot from the stands and I'm really lucky that I still had the chance to get back if I did the right thing -- and I've done that."
Guardiola hailed Kompany's commanding return to his side, but admitted back-up for the injury-hit captain is necessary.
Guardiola said: "I am pretty sure [former manager] Manuel Pellegrini missed him a lot last season. We missed him a lot.
"He is a real central defender. I have said many times -- [of] a central defender, how many duels do you win with the strikers? More than the [opponent], you are a central defender. He wins a lot. No doubt about that.
"But we have to cover our backs a little bit. We cannot give all the confidence he will be fit because of the experience of the last years. We have to have a back-up if something happens.''
The Belgium international said he was excited to watch the progress of young forwards Gabriel Jesus, Leroy Sane and Raheem Sterling, who all started the win over Palace and tormented the Eagles' defence with their pace and movement.
"On days like Saturday you can see they are capable of taking teams apart," Kompany added. "When they have that momentum you have to support that because they are young.
"When they are not thinking too much and they are able to develop their football like they did on Saturday, it can be quite a scary sight.
"In general, over the whole season they'll need help from the more experienced players. I'm sure we can drive them on to perform at that level more and more. But for the future of the club, it's exceptional to have these players in the team."
With rivals Liverpool dropping two points at home to Southampton on Sunday, City will finish third if they win their remaining three Premier League matches -- a position that would see them qualify automatically for the Champions League group stage.
But Kompany warned that they could not take anything for granted, adding: "It makes a whole difference to how we approach the next three games. It means there's still everything to play for.
"At the moment it's about being in the top four and when that's achieved it will be about finishing third. Especially with the teams competing with us, there is no chance to relax.
"We look like the team we should have been for much more of this season. But in reality the big difference on Saturday was us being ruthless and the performance was consistent."