Sunday 29 April 2018 14:16, UK
Pablo Zabaleta will have mixed feelings when old club Man City visit West Ham on Sunday, live on Sky Sports.
The defender spent nine years at the Etihad Stadium, winning two Premier League titles and making 333 appearances before moving south last summer.
Zabaleta's prime focus is keeping West Ham in the Premier League, with 35 points not enough to guarantee survival for the Hammers, but for a man who has a lifetime Manchester City season ticket, given to him after his final game, facing his old side for the second time since he left will still be strange.
He told Sky Sports: "It's going to be a little bit weird to play against my ex-team but the reality now is I'm a West Ham player. I want West Ham to win the game because we need those three points and we'll fight for it.
"There's still so much work to be done. I will say that probably with one more win or a draw we can be safe but we still need to play the games and in the Premier League you don't have easy games.
"Obviously it's been a very tough season with so many ups and downs. We couldn't find that consistency that sometimes you really need to perform well enough in this league. But we have a chance at the end of the season with four crucial games to go."
The 33-year-old doesn't have to look far to keep an eye on City's fortunes in his absence, with the Premier League champions in the hunt for a three-figure points tally - as long as they don't lose at the London Stadium on Sunday.
"They have been unbelievable this season," Zabaleta said. "They were the best team in the league without a doubt. They've been playing really good football, so attacking and they are looking for a few records as we saw in their last game against Swansea at the Etihad.
"We've been training well this week, thinking we need to do almost the perfect game to beat Man City so let's see if we can get something from it."
