For the first time in his career, the 34-year-old striker hit double figures for Premier League goals in a single season last year as the veteran continues to improve for the Seagulls despite many being worried about his age.
The former Manchester United, Arsenal and Watford star has now spoken to The Argus about how he was not pleased with last term’s position in the Premier League after Brighton finished eighth, just outside the European qualification spots.
“Eighth place is not enough for us. We want to keep pushing higher.
“We want to see if we can eventually get into Europe again
“We have got to look higher and that is the goal, to beat last season.For the young players it’s, ‘You’ve had a year so now we push on’.
“For the older players, we have got keep on raising the bar, raising the standards and try to push this football club forward.”
The England international then stated that Brighton must use Europe to their advantage as the likes of Nottingham Forest and Crystal Palace face more fixtures than before which he thinks will only benefit Brighton who have a less loaded fixture list.
“There are always a few surprises. This year there are a lot of teams in Europe so they are going to be having to play two games a week.
“We have got use that to our advantage.
“We are not going to be in Europe but we can prepare and be well recovered from game to game in the Premier League.
“That is going to be the biggest challenge, to make sure we ready to get three points every weekend.”