John Lundstram claims Sheffield United are still targeting survival - despite enjoying their best campaign for 44 years.
Chris Wilder’s Blades are sixth in the Premier League for the first time since Ken Furphy’s side, captained by club legend Tony Currie, finished in that position in 1975.
United boast the meanest defence in the top flight, along with Leicester , and have conceded just eight goals in their 11 games.
Yet Lundstram, the two-goal hero of Saturday’s win over Burnley , insists beating relegation remains their aim.
“I think if we’re all honest, at the start of the season we wanted to stay up,” said the midfielder.
“It’s still the same. We’ve had a good start, but it’s still very early and we can’t go getting carried away or anything like that.
“This league can punish you massively so we’re not getting carried away. The aim is still to stay up.”
Lundstram says the Blades have quickly adapted to the Premier League after admitting he was initially star struck by their big-name opponents.
“It’s not the heights that I thought it was going to be,” said the former Everton trainee. “At first I was a bit in awe of all these players, but we’ve done really well and our players are just as good as a lot of the other players lining up against us.
“At first I was thinking ‘what am I going to be like when we play Liverpool ?’. But now as the weeks have gone, you do start to believe in yourself more and that you do belong at this level.
“The belief we’ve got is the most important thing.”
Lundstram, 25, has become popular with Fantasy Football players because he scooped 21 points for his goalscoring display against Burnley.
He also earned points for the Blades’ clean sheet in the 3-0 win because he is wrongly listed as a defender.
“All my mates were saying to me, ‘you’re down as a defender’,” he said. “I didn’t know because I don’t play it, but I get more texts about how I’m doing in Fantasy Football than I do for my performances on the pitch.”
