Ipswich boss George Burley is looking at the FA Cup third round clash against Southampton on Monday night as a benchmark for Premiership soccer.

The Town chief is confident his squad can live with the big boys if they get promoted to the top flight at the end of the season.

And Burley - who played in the 1979 FA Cup final side which beat Arsenal 1-0 at Wembley - is urging his side to prove their class against Saints.

He said: "We're going into the game in good shape because we're seven games undefeated and we're not conceding goals.

"The FA Cup has a lot of romance and a lot of dreams associated with it. It's a one-off and we've every chance of causing an upset when they come to Portman Road.

"Southampton are a Premiership team but we've got ambitions of our own to get into the Premiership.

"We want to see how far we have come in recent seasons and to see how much the squad has developed and progressed in that time.

"It's an opportunity for us to match ourselves against a club well established in the big league.

"We're confident we can survive if we go up and now we want to prove we are up to the task with a win against a quality side."

But that quality has been missing in recent weeks and Dave Jones' side will arrive at Portman Road searching for their first win in more than a month.

There is also a huge question mark hanging over the head of the mercurial Matthew Le Tissier.

The Guernsey-born midfielder is likely to be on the bench and this week he said he would leave the Dell if he wasn't back in Saints' side before Christmas.

But the likes of Latvian international Marian Pahars and Claus Lundekvam have enough in the tank to cause Town problems and Burley added: "Southampton have some tricky players but it's up to us to deal with them."

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