Lambert: We are on a revenge mission (From Daily Echo)

Lambert: We are on a revenge mission

6:50am Wednesday 16th January 2013 in Sport

Saints will try and use the hurt of their home humbling at the hands of Chelsea to fire them to a surprise victory at Stamford Bridge tonight.

Star striker Rickie Lambert says that losing 5-1 to the Blues at St Mary’s in the FA Cup was an unusual and unpleasant experience for his side.

But, just 11 days and a 1-0 win over Aston Villa since that defeat, he remains upbeat that Saints can get something from an away game against Chelsea tonight – citing bottom of the table QPR’s recent victory there as proof.

“We knew how important the Villa win was, but we’ll be going there to try and get something,” he said.

“It was a disappointing result against them at home, 5-1. We never get beat at home like that, so it hurt. We’ll be trying to get something.

“They’re not unbeatable, we’ve seen it the other week against QPR, so we’re going to be confident that we can go there, be solid, and hopefully we can pick up something.”

Saints do at least go to Stamford Bridge in buoyant mood after securing that vital 1-0 win at relegation rivals Aston Villa. They have taken six points off of Villa this season and that could prove crucial in the final analysis.

“It might do, we’re hoping so, but Villa are going to be okay,” reckoned Lambert. “I don’t think they’re one of the teams who are going to be down the bottom come the end of the season, I think they’ve got too much quality.

“It’s a massively important win, and that will go a long way come the end of the season, but we still know there’s a long way to go.

“We’ve got to go away to Chelsea on Wednesday, which is one of the hardest games we’ve got, but we’re confident at the minute, we’re solid at the minute, and hopefully we can get something out of it.”

Lambert’s penalty was the difference against Villa.

The goal also took the striker to nine so far in the Premier League this season which makes him the second highest English top flight goalscorer, only behind 10-goal Jermaine Defoe.

Tonight’s match is a chance to notch double figures in what is a game in hand for Saints with the original fixture in December having been postponed due to Chelsea’s involvement in the Club World Cup.

“Obviously, we weren’t concentrating on any of the games we’ve got coming up, but we knew the situation at Villa and we’re just happy we got the three points,” said a focussed Lambert.

“That’s what we went for and we would have been disappointed with anything less.”