SAINT NO DOUBT

My old team may be in danger, but I am backing Hughes to keep them in Prem... SAYS SAINTS LEGEND RICKIE LAMBERT

RICKIE LAMBERT played a big part in Southampton’s amazing fairy tale – and he does not believe it will have an unhappy ending this summer.

Saints legend Lambert helped the club win two promotions in five years and is convinced they are strong enough to beat relegation from the Premier League.

He had the best times of his remarkable Roy of the Rovers career while at St Mary’s, and insists the spirit at the club will help them survive, despite the tough run-in starting against Chelsea today.

The 36-year-old former England striker said: “I know they are struggling, but I do think they’re going to be safe. The fans are still behind them, it is going to be close. They do need to start picking up points, but I think Mark Hughes will get them enough points to stay there.

“I’m more than confident they are going to be OK. They’ve played some good football this season, but they’ve been a bit too cautious going forward. Hughes will get them scoring a bit more and, as soon as they start scoring goals, then they will be fine.” Charlie Austin (above) scored at Arsenal in a heartbreaking 3-2 defeat, and will be key to their struggle.

“They’ve got a few hard games coming up, but it doesn’t matter, at this time of year, who you face,” added Lambert.

“If you need the points, then you have to go and get them. You have the belief that you can win no matter who it is – whether it’s Arsenal, Chelsea, Manchester City, anyone.

“You see it year-in and year-out, the bottom teams beat the top teams because the desire to stay in the Premier League is a little bit more than to finish in the top four.”

Lambert retired last October after an incredible career which spanned nine clubs, and took him from the lower leagues all the way to the 2014 World Cup with England.

The father of three is a great advert for players coming through the hard way to reach the top, and that is why he believes the current crop of Three Lions stars to have rise up the divisions have also had the best preparation.

He added: “It gave me a great grounding, it made me as good as I was in the Premier League from the amount that I learned in the Football League.

“If I had got too high too soon, then I probably wouldn’t have been there too long, to be honest. The likes of Vardy, Lallana, Oxlade-Chamberlain are some of the best players we’ve got now and I can understand why.

“I was like a little kid every time I went away with England. I was so proud to be a part of it.

“Before I made it, I used to get told that players are so much better than me, they are on a different level, they are on so much more money, and you get intimidated by it.

“It was a hell of a journey. It added to my desire to prove people wrong.”

Lambert, who is doing his coaching badges now, has no regrets about joining his boyhood heroes Liverpool – even if it did not work out.

“I couldn’t have resisted that,” he added. “A lot of people, especially from Southampton, have asked me if I regretted moving to Liverpool.

“But can you imagine the regret if I hadn’t gone? What I’d be feeling for the rest of my life?”