Southampton manager Nathan Jones makes Crystal Palace admission ahead of FA Cup fixture

Under-fire Southampton manager Nathan Jones says his team are stronger than when they first played Palace this season.

The Eagles have lost their last two games at home and face Southampton after a disappointing thrashing at the hands of Tottenham.

Eagles manager Patrick Vieira will be without left back Tyrick Mitchell who is serving the last of three game suspension after his sending off against Fulham.

Southampton have already visited Selhurst Park, losing 1-0. That was under former manager Ralph Hasenhuttl, but Nathan Jones is already under pressure.

Defeats to Brighton, Fulham and Nottingham Forest have weakened the new manager’s position but the team is looking good defensively and many believe it a matter of time before they get the reward their work deserves.

He told reporters ahead of the game: “Yeah, I’ve watched pretty much 12 of the first 15 games so we know exactly the deficiencies in what we’re doing.

“And defensively we’re better, we’re better than what we’ve been because we’re not conceding chance after chance after chance.

“The team has conceded goals and has kept one clean sheet against Bournemouth away - and I watched the game and with the greatest respect they were very fortunate to keep a clean sheet there.

“They haven’t kept clean sheets so we’ve not defended well enough. I think we are defending better. There are just individual mistakes now.

“Against Fulham on Saturday we absolutely nullified them. [Against Nottingham Forest] they didn’t have any big chances apart from the goal they scored.

“There are improvements in terms of our defensive record, and we need to continue that, and then it’s a slow process to build. We need a result to change momentum and that will happen over games. I understand the frustrations, I really, really do.”