Southampton striker Rickie Lambert's new lease of life comes from living like a saint "I didn't think the Premier League was going to happen in my career for a while so it was just amazing," he says. No matter how many knock-backs I got as a kid, I always wanted to play football and that was in me. I would say to people to never give up. Lambert's status as an authentic local cult hero has also been confirmed this year but it is conceivable that 2013 could be even better. Only Jermain Defoe and Wayne Rooney, with 130 international caps between them, are ahead of Lambert among Englishmen in the Premier League goalscoring chart and, with England coach Roy Hodgson still testing various combinations up front, he has become a legitimate option. At the age of 30, and after more than a decade in the lower leagues, it would be some achievement. "Obviously one day if I ever got the chance it would mean everything to me but it's definitely not what I'm thinking about at all," he says. Lambert's response, of course, is eminently sensible but it would also be a mistake to exaggerate his limitations. Good in the air, an excellent finisher and adept now at either linking the play or running into the channels, it was always Lambert's fitness that was previously questioned rather than his ability. The perspective, though, both of past setbacks and becoming a dad, as well as a cutting edge sports science department at Southampton, has meant a belated overhaul in his approach. Although Lambert openly admits that manager Paul Trollope encouraged him to address the issue while at Bristol Rovers, he believes that he only truly became a football professional at the age of 27 when he joined Southampton. At the time, the first £1million signing of the new Markus Liebherr and Nicola Cortese regime looked a gamble. Three years and 94 goals later, it looks inspired. "For whatever reason it wasn't happening for me earlier in my career," says Lambert. From school going on to YTS, I was always the unfittest lad by a mile. I just thought 'that's me, this is who I am, this is what I am always going to be. I didn't really want to miss out on going out and enjoying myself. I was living how a typical lad lives. Then I went to Southampton and I got a kick up the backside. I learnt that I had real potential to do well in my career. That is when I really started looking after myself and I believed that I might have a chance to get to the Premier League. Before then, I wasn't really a professional. I had professional ability but my professionalism wasn't what it should have been. The subsequent loss of about a stone in body weight might not sound much but to an elite footballer it was transformative. Lambert believes that it would not be possible to play in the Premier League without changing his ways. "Maybe you could last half a season but you would probably get found out straight away," he says. The biggest improvement has been in his movement off the ball and goals have followed this season against the very best opposition, including both Manchester City and Manchester United. He regards his goal against Queens Park Rangers, and Southampton's 3-1 win that day, however, as potentially most important. To the amusement of Southampton manager Nigel Adkins, the match had been called 'El Sackico" in the build-up due to the precarious position of both clubs and it was to be the last of Mark Hughes's brief tenure at QPR. "Moving up into the Premier League was a bigger step than I expected," says Lambert. We desperately needed the run we've been on. We are new to this league so each game we play and we see we can win, that gives us confidence going into the next game. I think we will get better. Despite a tangible improvement in the past six games, including three wins, two draws and only one defeat, the lingering question is whether Southampton are just a little too naive defensively to survive. "It doesn't matter who is playing or who is the manager, the club has to play this way," says Lambert. We have cut down our mistakes and we are still playing the good football but in better areas. And what of Saturday's critical home fixture against Sunderland, another club hovering just above the relegation zone? "We have got to beat whoever we can at home but we have to understand how hard this game will be," he says. As ever, it will be Lambert to whom most Southampton fans turn. "That reaction I get is the best thing ever," he says. It drives me on. They look at me to help push the team forward to score goals and, seeing the belief in the fans" faces, has given me the confidence to have done what I have done."