Paul Lambert firmly believes Ipswich Town will ‘have the last laugh’ this season.

The Blues are in the national spotlight towards the end of a turbulent year which has seen Mick McCarthy’s lengthy tenure come to an end, Paul Hurst’s reign last just 149 days and Lambert left with the mammoth task of trying to prevent the club from dropping into the third-tier for the first time since 1957.

Town head to Lambert’s former club Stoke City this afternoon seven points adrift of safety at the foot of the Championship table. It comes at the end of a week which has seen news of the club’s debt climbing to £95.5m and reports, which the club quickly quashed, that Evans is actively looking to sell.

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Asked if he genuinely felt his side could beat the odds, Lambert – who has taken two points from five games – said: “Absolutely, because there’s not much in it. You can go on run in this league and turn things around very quickly. You can win two and catapult out of it. You can lose two and be back in it. Everybody knows that’s the nature of the Championship.

“We’re in a fight for sure, but at least we’re in the fight. Before we came I couldn’t see the fight.

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“I’ll never get downbeat, never. Anyone that knows me will say that. I think we’ve deserved more in games, without doubt. At Reading we were excellent in the first half and could have been three or four up, Bristol City we should never have drawn let alone lost, Preston I thought we were the best team up until the end.

“The lads are playing well. And as long as we keep playing well things will turn.”

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Lambert, who attended a tense shareholders’ AGM in midweek, continued: “You can sense some animosity, but what a club this is. It’s absolutely brilliant, it really is.

“It will turn, without a doubt. We just need a little bit of help (in January).

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“One thing I do sense is that everything going in the same direction. If you stay on that path then this will turn and when it does turn then I’m pretty sure we will be having the last laugh.”

He added: “We need the supporters. They are every bit as important as everybody else. I understand the frustrations, but the most important thing is that everyone is behind us. Once this turns this will be brilliant.

“But as I said, we need everybody to go one way together. We have to unite.”