James Milner does not mind being regarded as boring if it means he ends up with a second Premier League winners' medal in May before boarding England's flight to Brazil in June.

The Manchester City midfielder's sensible image has led to the establishment of a parody Twitter account – "Boring Milner" – which recounts details of him supposedly defrosting the freezer, looking forward to vacuuming, lamenting the demise of Heartbeat on Sunday night television and owning a Foyle's War DVD.

"It's got a few followers now, hasn't it?" Milner said. "It's a bit of fun and I've read a few of the tweets. If people think I'm boring, well, as long as I've got a Premier League winners' medal I don't really mind being as boring as you want.

"Hopefully I'll be going to the World Cup finals as well. That's the plan. It'll be an amazing stage to play on and I'd love to go but you get there by playing good football for your club. I'll do that as well as I can and hopefully it will get me on the plane."

As a second-half substitute Milner created Álvaro Negredo's stoppage-time goal in City's 2-0 win at Newcastle on Sunday, a hard-fought victory in front of a partisan crowd which returned Manuel Pellegrini's side to the top of the table. The 28-year-old believes it could prove a watershed result in City's title bid.

"It feels like a massive result because these are the type of really tough tests that you want to win if you have any hopes of topping the table," Milner said. "Everyone knows we can play good, attractive football because we've scored so many goals but these are the sort of games where you have to dig in and grind out a result. It's a sign of a very good team that we can grind out a win like that from probably the least possession we've had all season.

"Up at the top is where we want to be, where we have to be. Hopefully what we did at Newcastle will help us to win the big prizes. We have put ourselves in a good position in four competitions, but you need grit and determination, not just a squad of gifted players. When the going gets tough we've shown we can stick together and grind out good results."

It certainly seems Pellegrini's team have finally learnt to win away. "You have to have faith and keep playing the same way," Milner said. "I think people forget we had a lot of new players coming into the team and a new manager so it was always going to take time for us all to get to know each other. A lot of newcomers were trying to adapt to the demands of the Premier League.

"But we've got a great dressing room, a very tight knit group. The new players are great lads and the new manager has done really well. Everyone is very much part of a team under the new boss. We're blessed with a squad full of fantastic players with the right character and we needed to show a lot of that character against Newcastle."

For the moment at least Milner is happy to accept being a frequent substitute rather than a regular starter. "I'm very lucky to be alongside these high-quality players and contributing my bit," he said. "It's very special.

"People say there are too many games I'm not involved in but I've come on a lot and done alright."

City will be without the midfielder Samir Nasri for around eight weeks because of the knee injury he suffered at Newcastle.

The 26-year-old was carried from the field on a stretcher with his left leg in a brace with medial ligament damage.

Nasri tweeted: "Thank you everyone for your kind words and overwhelming support, I suppose its kind of good news that I will be out around eight weeks."

He was hurt in a 75th-minute challenge by his compatriot Mapou Yanga-Mbiwa.