SOUTHAMPTON boss Ivan Juric has piled the praise on Newcastle United ahead of today's meeting at St Mary's, claiming the Magpies are "the level of Arsenal, Chelsea and Manchester City".

United charged up the table with a nine-game winning streak prior to last weekend's home defeat to Bournemouth, and Juric has been hugely impressed by Eddie Howe's side.

“The last few years they are constructing a great team,” he said.

“Buying great players like (Sandro) Tonali and (Alexander) Isak. I know how good Tonali was in Italy, one of the best players in the league.

“Newcastle are a really strong team. They are the level of Arsenal, Chelsea and Manchester City."

Despite that praise, Juric has spotted weaknesses he thinks Southampton can exploit.

"I saw lots of games where we have possibilities to do well," he said.

"Bournemouth pressed really high with incredible intensity. Every team when you press high and play with intensity has problems.

“Sometimes we did games like this, and we want to do the same thing against Newcastle.”

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Juric insists Southampton have shown progress during his first month in charge.

Saints have lost all five Premier League matches since he succeeded Russell Martin, with the Croatian’s only victory coming against Championship outfit Swansea in the third round of the FA Cup.

But Juric believes they could have picked up “three, four or five points more” from narrow defeats to West Ham, Manchester United, Crystal Palace and Nottingham Forest.

“I have the feeling that every day we are getting better,” he said.

“They (players) understand more and I understand them more. I am very optimistic. We are starting to change everything.

“I know we needed a little bit of time to change the mentality, but the players are open-minded and want to do things what I want.

“The last games I saw a lot of progression and now I hope we are competitive for all games.”

Southampton remain rooted to the bottom of the table and survival appears a hopeless case.

They are 10 points from safety with 16 games to play, having won just once in the league all season.