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.
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He told HampshireLive: "There are a lot of parallels. If I can do anywhere near the job he has done there, I will be happy. He took a team over in League Two and did well, then went to Burnley, came back and got Bournemouth to the Premier League.
"Similar for me, with Luton then at Stoke and back to Luton, albeit not as far as Eddie did. So many parallels, a lot of admiration for him as a human and as a manager."
Newcastle made the most of three successive home draws to dispatch Crystal Palace, Bournemouth and Leicester City to book their place in the semi-final. The Magpies now have the advantage of playing the decisive leg on home turf, and Jones is aware of the 'balance' his team needs to strike in order to reach Wembley next month.
The Southampton boss added: "It is always tough to have the second leg away. We are really excited to have this game and at this stage of the competition, there will be no easy games. We want to be positive, but there is a balance.
"Over 180 minutes you have to make sure you are ahead or in with a chance. There is a balance and we have to be physically and mentally prepared for that."
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