London: Southampton's England striker Rickie Lambert wants the Saints to wipe some smirks off faces this weekend and reignite the Premier League club's stuttering season with a win over Newcastle.
"We aimed for fourth this season, and people laughed at us, but they didn't laugh at us straightaway when we were second, they waited until we dropped off a bit," Lambert told the club's website.
"Our desire is to get into the top four and that's the way the club has been run in the past four years and that's the vision the players have and it's the one that the club has, so for me it's what the players still want going forward and it's what we're expecting to be honest."
A win would see ninth-placed Southampton overtake eighth-placed Newcastle, but their remaining ambitions this season need to be in context - their 45 points see Southampton trail fourth-placed Arsenal by 18, with only 21 more to play for this season. "We definitely believe that we can finish above teams like Newcastle," Lambert added.
"I think we adapted to the Premier League last year so we stopped thinking about things in terms of what clubs are bigger than us. "We're Southampton, we get on with our own stuff, and really you're only as big a club as you want to be in your own head, so if you want to think you won't be bigger than Newcastle then you never will be, but it's up to us to push on."
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