Jones previews Southampton trip

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Nathan Jones has previewed the challenge awaiting his side when they take on an in-form Southampton at St Mary's on Saturday.

The Addicks came up against a ruthless Saints side in the reverse fixture back in November.

"We have to learn from that," Jones said. "They were on a good run, as they are now. There will definitely be structural things to learn, but also a few other things as well. 

"We know it's a difficult game and it's a difficult place to go to. They're an ex-Premier League side with aspirations to go back up and they're in good form. I want us to acquit ourselves considerably better than we did in the home one."

Jones' side were backed by a sold-out away following during their last road trip, a 2-0 victory at Leicester City.

"Our fans have been magnificent away from home and these are wonderful places to go to," said the gaffer. "As we've said, a year ago we weren't going to places of the calibre of Southampton and Leicester, so it shows how far we've come and we'd like the same result again."

The Addicks shifted to a back four after the interval on Tuesday night following a triple change. 

"We want to evolve constantly and be able to do that," Jones explained. "Prior to the last few weeks, personnel has not allowed us to do anything other than play what we had been playing, but now we have a much stronger, more balanced squad and we're able to play either." 

Jones confirmed Reece Burke is available for selection and also provided an update on the fitness of Miles Leaburn, who played 45 minutes on his return in midweek, and Matty Godden, who missed out with a hamstring injury.

"Miles is getting stronger every day really," Jones said. "We brought him back early - it's a shoulder injury that could take anything from three to six weeks and he's come back after just under three, so he's done very, very well and every day he's getting stronger.

"We'll get the report and the specialist thing on Matty, but that could be a couple of weeks."

The Addicks return to The Valley on Saturday, February 28th to take on Wrexham. Don't miss out, click here to purchase your tickets now!

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