Southampton boss Nathan Jones admits he 'will be happy' if he can come 'anywhere near' to replicating Eddie Howe's achievements at Newcastle United so far. The Magpies travel to St Mary's for the first leg of the Carabao Cup semi-final tie on Tuesday night, before hosting the reverse fixture a week later.
Newcastle eased to a comfortable 4-1 victory at the same venue in November, and the visitors remain third in the Premier League table. Jones replaced Ralph Hassenhuttl just days later, and the Saints have won three of their last four matches heading into the tie.
Southampton earned a shock win over Manchester City in the previous round, and have followed this with an away win at fellow strugglers and a narrow home defeat to Aston Villa. Jones is still settling into life as a Premier League manager, and believes there are 'parallels' which can be drawn between his journey and Howe's own rise through the divisions.
