BURNLEY -- Yaya Toure is determined to force his way back into the Champions League squad after rescuing his Manchester City career.
The Ivorian was recalled for his first Premier League appearance of the season last weekend in City's victory over Crystal Palace -- scoring twice in a 2-1 win -- after apologising for comments made by his agent Dimitri Seluk.
Toure missed the 1-1 draw at Borussia Monchengladbach in midweek that secured a place in the Champions League last-16 after being left out of Pep Guardiola's European squad.
The 33-year-old, who made his second successive start in Saturday's 2-1 win at Burnley, is now determined to convince Guardiola that he should be available when the Champions League knockout stages resume in February.
"Of course, that's why I stayed at City," he told reporters. "The most important thing is to help the team, and to also help the manager, who is very, very intelligent, very strong tactically. I think when the team gets all of his ideas we are going to be a great team.
"I have to keep working because [Guardiola] is a very, very, very professional person and he really likes football.
"I think that the most important thing for me is to keep working -- those who work hardest always have more opportunities to play."
Toure will now hope to keep his place in Guardiola's side for next Saturday's visit from top-of-the-table Chelsea.
City have no game in midweek and it will be the first that the coach will have seven days to prepare for a weekend match with his full squad since the opening day of the season.
Toure believes that makes it harder for Guardiola compared to Chelsea's Antonio Conte and Liverpool's Jurgen Klopp, who have no European football to worry about.
"To be honest, when you are a top player and you only play once a week -- like the Chelsea players, they only play once a week -- it's easier to play well, it's easier to recover well and easier to take full advantage," he added.
"It's going to be a tough game on Saturday, that's for sure. Definitely they have an advantage, to be honest. It's difficult to play midweek and then the weekend after.
"Sometimes with the European schedule we play on a Wednesday, like this week, and then a Saturday. It's sometimes tough to be focused and in these kind of games, you have to prepare well to compete."
A win would see City move above Chelsea in the table, but Toure says they aren't their only threat to the Premier League title.
"Chelsea, Liverpool, Arsenal, Tottenham and Man United, at the moment, they are not in good shape, but they can get into it," he said.
"Because this league, for me, this season is unpredictable. It's going to be decided in the last two months."