Newcastle midfielder Joey Barton enjoys return to form

Barton joined Newcastle from Manchester City in June 2007

Newcastle United midfielder Joey Barton believes he has finally rediscovered the form that prompted his £5.8m move from Manchester City in June 2007.

Barton, 28, has been an ever-present in the Premier League so far this season, and marked the 6-0 win at Aston Villa with a fine goal to open the scoring.

"I spoke after pre-season how good I felt," Barton told BBC Newcastle.

"I never doubted that I had football ability, but it was just being fit enough to show it and now I am."

Barton added: "I was always confident through everything that I was a better player than I was when I was playing for England.

"In the coming months it's up to me to prove that. Thankfully I've had the opportunity to prove it in a good team."

Newcastle's decent start to the Premier League has impressed pundits, who expected the Magpies to struggle, as did the bookmakers who had odds of around 11/4 on a season of struggle at St James' Park.

Relegation to the Championship two seasons ago was a blow to players like Barton, Kevin Nolan and Fabricio Coloccini accustomed to the upper echelons of English football, and the Merseysider admitted that determination and hunger to respond to such disappointment has been vital.

"There's a lot of lads in our dressing room with ambitions and people to prove wrong," Barton continued.

"And we have as a squad, because of the way everyone wrote us off before a ball had even been kicked."

The England international has one cap, earned against Spain in February 2007, and has made 180 league appearances for City and Newcastle in total, scoring 19 goals.