Michael Ball was delighted to earn a rare start for Manchester City in their draw at Fulham on Saturday.

"It's December, I'm a man - I get the flu!" Ball joked with City's website. "I couldn't train much this week, but with Javi (Garrido) having his injury I just told the boss that getting a sweat on would help me play better. I was disappointed in midweek, I knew there were going to be a few changes and that was going to be my chance to show the boss what I can do and get back into the first eleven.

"The flu meant I could not make it and it was really frustrating for me, I was determined to make it for the weekend which thankfully I did.

"I just wanted to get out there but it was tough, the pitch was a bit difficult and the low sun in the first half made it quite hard in my part of the pitch. But we had our chances, and I thought overall we defended really well.

"We would have liked all three points, we're disappointed with their goal. In the second half it only looked like we were going to score at times, with just a little bit more care we could have come away with the win."