The Canaries are currently perched comfortably in mid-table ahead of Saturday's visit to Everton. However, with another tough away fixture at Wolves next week before the visit of Tottenham on December 27, Fulham on New Year's Eve then a trip to Queens Park Rangers on January 2, Lambert expects every man to be fully focused on the job in hand. Asked whether his players had held a Christmas party, the Norwich manager said: "The lads know my feelings on it at the minute. It is more important to get a foothold in the league before anything can happen at the minute. "We will see - it might come in May. I will wait and see." Lambert added in a news conference: "We are playing well that we can compete and give teams a game, which people never thought we could do, so the lads deserve credit because they are carrying this club forwards. "You can look at every game in the Premier League, and you just don't know where they are coming from - but that is the magnitude of how hard it is "We have done really fine to put ourselves in a decent position at the minute." Norwich have competed well on a first return to the top flight for the Norfolk club in six seasons, only really being outplayed in a 5-1 defeat at Premier League leaders Manchester City. The Canaries produced the required response with a 4-2 home win over Newcastle last week. Lambert, though, was left less than impressed by comments from Magpies striker Demba Ba - who advised teams coming to Carrow Road should "put their bigger lads on the pitch and they'll be fine" to combat the threat of frontmen Grant Holt and Steve Morison, who were both on the scoresheet. "I think there was a lot made about the Newcastle centre-back area, which I can understand because I have had the same problem myself," said the Norwich manager. "But when Demba Ba came out and said teams coming to Norwich better play big players, if that is the case, then Wes Hoolahan must have grown overnight, David Fox must have grown overnight, Andrew Crofts too - they must be about nine foot three. "If somebody thinks we are a big side with the footballers we have got, then maybe they should look a little bit closer. "I thought it was a little bit detrimental to us. [Newcastle manager] Alan Pardew was great afterwards, but I just didn't think that comment [from Ba] was right saying we are a big side. That is one thing we are not." Everton are a couple of places below Norwich in the table, but Lambert is expecting nothing other than a testing encounter. "Everton have a great manager and the atmosphere will be fantastic, so I am looking forward to going because I have never been to Goodison Park," the former Celtic midfielder said. "David Moyes has been exceptional for what he has done up there. From the outside looking in, they are a terrific side. "Everton have been established in the Premier League for a long time, so it will be a really tough game for us - as hard as they come. "Some results may not have gone their way, but they are still a dangerous side."
