Sergio Agüero has revealed that his sparkling form this season is down to a marked change of diet. The Manchester City striker, the Premier League’s leading scorer with 25 goals, has revamped his fitness regime to try to avoid the muscle injuries that plagued him in recent seasons.

The 26-year-old’s hat-trick in Sunday’s 6-0 hammering of Queens Park Rangers took him five clear of Tottenham’s Harry Kane in league goals and to 31 in all competitions, the Argentinian’s best ever return. This has been possible despite the knee injury that ruled him out from 6 December to 10 January.

He said: “I had to change a lot of things, starting with my food. I needed a healthier way of life. Touch wood, I haven’t had any muscle injuries this season, only the knee problem. In training sessions I was struggling a little bit last season. For example, after every three training sessions I had to stop – so I have improved in that. I have also had to have a lot of treatment after training sessions as well. Now I hope I can stay like this until the end of my career.”

Agüero has cut out what were formerly dietary staples. “I went to a doctor in Italy and he checked everything we did; and I had to change quite a bit – no more pasta, no more sugar and no meat, which I used to eat quite a bit because Argentinian meat is very good,” he said. “Hopefully this season has proved that it has worked and I can stay the same until the end of my career.”

Of the 31 goals this season Agüero said: “Every season is different. I hope I can keep scoring like this but defenders now know me a bit better and defend against me in different ways. My job is to score goals but what I really want next season is for City to win titles. The hat-trick was important but the best thing for me was that the team won and that we are getting closer to Champions League football next season.

“I started the season very well but then got injured and, after I came back, with the more minutes I played I got better and better. I try to do that every season. I am here to score goals and play as many games as possible.”

Agüero was not recognised by his peers, failing to be voted into the Professional Footballers’ Association team of the year or receive a nomination for the player of the year award. “It also happened in the season when I scored 23 goals and we won the Premier League and I didn’t get the Young Player of the Season award,” he said of the 2011-12 campaign when Tottenham’s Kyle Walker received the accolade. “So my job is just to keep working as hard as I can and keep scoring goals. I expect to do the same again next season.”

Agüero has praise for David Silva, whose goal against QPR was his 12th for the club this season. “David is a top player. The press always highlight the assists that he gets but he has also scored a lot of goals this season,” he said. “I think anyone in the world would like to play with David and we should be thankful he is playing with us here at City. I just love to play with him.”

Agüero is clear that, with City failing to defend the title, the club are determined to challenge again next year. “We haven’t won this time but our objective every year is to win it,” he said. “I hope we will be celebrating something by the end of next season.”