When you are scoring as many goals as I have been recently people are going to start taking notice of you - and not just off the pitch.

Going into the weekend's game I had scored seven times since the start of the season and the more you score, the more people watch you.

Everyone is aware of you and wherever you go on the field the first thing they say is 'hey, pick him up, mark him'.

So it was all the more pleasing to get my eighth and ninth goals in the 3-0 win against Birmingham on Saturday.

I knew at the start of the campaign I would get close attention from opposition defenders, not only because of my achievements in the First Division last time we were in this league but also because I play for City - a team that if it is not the favourite to go up is certainly in the top three.

And I am sure that as long as I keep scoring I will continue to get the attention over the coming games.

The challenge is for me to try and avoid being tightly marked so that I am still able to score.

That sometimes involves doing some homework on players that I am going to come up against.

Before we play them I have an idea about certain players, what they are like, what sort of game to expect and what type of game I have to play to get the better of them.

It helps when you have played against players several times because you get to know them but we are also assisted by our club scouts who go out, watch them play and and come back and give us information on them.

They will say 'this player plays more or less like this, be aware because he likes to do this' and they put little things in your mind to help you on the day of the game.

For example, I know that with certain defenders I have to be more aggressive because they will try to put an aggressive game on me.

If I win that battle then I know that when it comes down to the actual football side of it I will come out on top.

However, if they physically beat me, are stronger than me and manhandle me, then they will win the battle.

Certain defenders I have to be a bit more up for it in a physical sense but regardless of what measures I take you will always get some players who will do almost anything to make sure that I don't score!

The Birmingham defenders didn't have much luck on Saturday though.

The first of the two goals came when Paulo Wanchope tried to sidefoot the ball into the bottom corner but instead it hit the post.

I have a knack of running in in the event of the 'keeper making a save and he parries it out and it paid off again this time. I got to the ball before it ran back into the 'keeper's arms and was able to tap it in.

The second goal came from a set piece. A corner was played in and flicked on by one of the Birmingham defenders and I had just come two yards off the 'keeper and glanced it into the goal.

I had one or two other opportunities, one the 'keeper saved and the other I made the wrong decision by trying to take it past him instead of shooting, but at the end of the day I have to be pleased that I am continuing on the goal trail.

When we came off the pitch we learned that we had to play Birmingham again in a few weeks after drawing them in the next round of the League Cup!

In this league the games come thick and fast and we have another important one tomorrow night when we travel to Coventry.

We were both relegated from the Premier League last season and so I expect it to be another tough encounter.

I expect it to be a bit like our opening game of the season against Watford.

Both clubs will be wanting to send out a message that 'hey, we are going to be the ones that you need to beat'.

I think Coventry will be using the match as a yardstick. They have had a mixed start and so will hope they can use the game as a stepping stone to go onto better things.

They also have a new manager with Gordon Strachan leaving and Roland Nilsson taking over and that too could play a part.

Players who maybe have not played under the previous manager come from out of the wilderness and it gives everyone in the first team a kick up the backside. They will say 'I was perhaps comfortable with my position but now I am not' and they will be putting in 100 percent to impress the manager.

That's the effect it can have and we just have to make sure that they don't come good against us.

Before I sign off I must just say how good it was that everyone in England showed such respect to the victims of the terrorist attacks in America.

We paid our own tribute on Friday when we had a three-minute silence during training.

The gaffer, Kevin Keegan, got all the staff from around the ground, the chef, everyone and anyone you could think of, to come out on the field at 10.55 a.m.

I thought that was very good of him. Whether it was his initial decision or not I thought that was good and appropriate.