Pablo Zabaleta believes changes will continue at Manchester City

Manchester City defender Pablo Zabaleta expects to see plenty more changes at the club over the years to come.

Mainstay

Zabaleta was an important member of the title-winning squad but it is this season that he has truly established himself as a mainstay of the team. Manager Roberto Mancini has a preference for rotating full-backs but injuries to Micah Richards and Maicon this season have meant that Zabaleta has been almost a permanent fixture on the right. He has responded by producing consistently outstanding form and his current status is not something he anticipated when he arrived from Espanyol. He said: "When you sign a for a club you just try and do your best but I admit that I didn't know whether I would be still be in the squad and winning trophies five years later because it was a different club when I joined. "So I am very pleased to be a part of this club, I'm really happy to be here." City's hopes of retaining their title are all but over as they trail Manchester United by 15 points with just eight games remaining. But that will not stop them from bidding to land a blow in next week's derby at Old Trafford, a fixture now much more evenly poised than in the recent past. Zabaleta said: "They have more respect for Manchester City now. When I arrived at the club in 2008 it was completely different. "We have different players now and by winning the league championship last season we showed that we are learning and growing as a club and as a team and I'm sure they have more respect for us now."