Rickie Lambert looks to try and avoid equalling his worst ever run of failing to score in League games when Saints face Norwich City at St Mary's on Saturday.

In his 4 1/2 years at the Club the longest run Rickie Lambert has had without scoring has been six games, that has happened on three occasions, the first being in the 2010/11 season when the arrival of Nigel Adkins coincided with a downturn of form from both the team and Rickie, then last season he again went six games without scoring firstly in the autumn and then again right at the end of the season till he broke the run by scoring on the final day of the season against Stoke City.

This term his most barren patch came in five games starting with the trip to Arsenal and ending on Boxing Day against Cardiff City, now though he again faces equalling his worst ever run as against the Canaries he is in line for his 199 the League appearance for the club and looking for his 102nd league goal.

But he has much more to play for than on either of the other three occasions he went half a dozen without scoring, firstly there is of course the little matter of keeping his place in the England squad but with regard to his club career he is also for the first time in his St Mary's career in serious danger of losing his automatic place for Saints.

If he fails to score against Norwich or more importantly again puts in another lacklustre performance, Mauricio Pochettino could well start to either look towards next season by trying either Sam Gallagher ahead of Lambert in the starting line up, or perhaps consider a re shuffle in the side to accomodate Ramirez.

No Saints supporter wants to see any of this happen, ideally though Rickie will find his shooting boots again and a spring in his step that has been missing for a while now.

This season though Rickie has usually managed to find the net against the lower sides, of his 8 league goals, 5 have come against sides in the bottom 5 add 2 against Stoke & Hull and that leaves only a single strike against a side above 12th in the table.

So the arrival of Norwich gives Rickie the ideal opportunity to not only show Saints that he still has a lot to offer not only in the run in this season but going forward next, but that he is worth a place on the plane to Brazil.

A word of caution though, ickie needs to find his form and fast, as mentioned for perhaps the first time his place is genuinely under threat and if that is the case his poor form will almost certainly cost him his place in the England squad, he is now going to go head to head with the likes of Andy Carroll for the wild card in the squad for Brazil, its going to be the most important 9 games in his career, by the end of them he will either be about to embark on the most exciting time of his life or will be left rueing just what might have been, I like most Saints fans hope that it is the former and that I see his face all over my television screen from Brazil.

Photo: Action Images

Zambucco added 10:46 - Mar 13 Unfortunately for Rickie, our high pressing game doesn't suit his style, which is a massive shame, as we've all come to enjoy his goal scoring exploits. However if he is not scoring where does he fit in? We need more goals. Without saying a bad word against him, I think we should have let him go to West Ham, as it was a move that would have been best for both of us. Their style would have suited Rickie down to the ground, and the goals would be flooding back and he would be a cert for the trip to Brazil. For us the rumoured £8m could have been spent on a fit young replacement, Danny Ings, Sam Vokes? It would have left the door open for Gallagher, Rodriguez, Ramirez or even Osvaldo? Sure he's a legend here, and it seems cruel to discard him, but I just don't think he's got the legs to survive in our present set up.

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SaintlyTim added 11:42 - Mar 13 He's been unlucky having hit the woodwork a couple of times recently.
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landsdownsaint added 13:05 - Mar 13 I love him ! He's been our talisman for many a year now, but he's looking very predictable and off the pace ,I'd like to see a fit Gaston get a run
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tiptop added 23:13 - Mar 13 Agree with Nic. I do hope SRL has a change of luck and gets a fresh wind in his sails. We need someone to break through from the front third with pace. We are too one dimentional atm and unless Ricky can start clicking with AL in particular then his form will be hard to pick up. As good as the full backs have been the quality of crosses from the wing have not been as consistantly good as they should be. Ricky's back post dominance is a distant memory for now..

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saintmark1976 added 00:40 - Mar 14 Ramirez ahead of Lambert,have a holiday Nick. Just like Osvaldo,Ramirez is an expensive failure. Yes,he has skill but can not hack the pace or physical side of the Premier nor will he ever be able to. To us older fans he is, regretfully a "sand dancer".
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