My relationship with Nicolas Anelka is going from strength to strength on the pitch and we are coming together well off it as well.

As in any partnership it helps if you like the person and have things of common interest with each other.

However, although we get on great I must say our age difference, Nicolas is 23 and I am 32, can create some small problems.

You see we call Nicolas Puff Daddy - or P.Diddy as the rap star likes to be known these days - and if you've seen him after a game you would understand why.

He is just like a rapper, from the baggie trousers he wears to the music he listens to and even the car he drives, a Cadillac Escalade he had imported from America. He has also been in a movie, had a book written about him and appeared in a music video, although he has yet to make a record of his own.

Unfortunately, I think my baggy trouser days are well and truly over. They are not really my style now, though my sister might say I never had any style in the first place!

But all joking aside, as I have said before in reference to my partnership with another team-mate of mine, Paulo Wanchope, I believe it is vital that players get to know each other not only on the training pitch, but socially.

It is something I wholeheartedly believe in, whether it be going to the cinema, listening to music or anything else that brings you closer together.

It has paid dividends on the pitch before and I think it will with Nicolas as well.

We already talk quite a lot together, and I don't think he would talk to just anybody.

He has an image of being moody, especially if you read the newspapers, but that certainly isn't the case from what I have seen.

He has confided a number of things in me and I think he is of the opinion I am an OK guy.

I've now played the last three Premiership games alongside Nicolas and on Saturday I scored in the 2-1 win over West Brom - the first time we have won two games on the trot all season.

I could, and should, have made it 3-1 but I missed a sitter towards the end.

If it had gone in it would have been my 100th goal in a Manchester City shirt but I committed the cardinal sin of thinking I'd scored before it even crossed the line.

Nicolas pulled the ball back to me and I've not hit it well and it's hit the far post from about six yards out.

If we had gone on to draw or lose I would have been gutted, but thankfully it made no difference at the end of the day.

Hopefully, I'll be playing tonight when we take on Wigan in the Worthington Cup.

Wigan are two divisions below us but our manager Kevin Keegan has said he is going to put out his strongest team because if we win the competition we will play in Europe next season.

It is also a local derby as Wigan is only 20 minutes or so away from Manchester and as such there should be a great atmosphere.

Talking of derbies they don't come much bigger than the one on Saturday.

I'm speaking of course of our league game with Manchester United at Maine Road.

It will be a great match but I have tried not to think about it too much, largely because the last time we played each other I was dropped to the bench.

I think I had scored three goals in the previous three games but it was not enough to earn me a place in the side and so I don't want to tempt fate.

But while I am trying not to think about it you can rest assured that the people of Manchester are.

Whatever happens at 4.45 p.m. on Saturday you can bet that there'll be those that will be ringing in sick when it comes to go to work on Monday and there'll be others who will be getting there early and lying in wait. Heck, some people may even hand in their notice, that's how seriously it is taken.

There are about 12 Bermudians coming over for the game and some of them are Manchester United fans, so the reception they get at my house afterwards will depend on what the final score is!