James Ward-Prowse is deserving of his starting spot
By Chris Hughes
With Manolo Gabbiadini grabbing all the headlines for Southampton since his January move from Napoli, one man that has gone under the radar is James Ward-Prowse.
Arguably one of the last members of the strong English core to have featured in the Maurcio Pochettino era, James Ward-Prowse has waited a while to fully stamp his mark on the Saints.
The 22-year-old midfielder has been an active member of Southampton’s squad since their first season back in the Premier League, when he made 19 appearances in all competitions as a teenager.
The following year Ward-Prowse’s involvement increased to almost 40 appearances, a figure only bettered by four other players. However, unlike that quartet – which included Rickie Lambert and Adam Lallana – Prowsey’s involvement was predominantly off the bench, with 19 being substitute appearances.
However this season under Claude Puel the young Englishman was finally made the starting spot his own. He has been in the first 11 in each of their last ten games in all competitions, grabbing two assists and a further two goals along the way.
He was set up by Cedric Soares in the Saints’ game against Leicester back at the end of January and also scored recently against Tottenham Hotspur, before turning provider in the side’s game against West Ham and then in the EFL cup final against Manchester United.
The stats
Ward-Prowse is averaging an 82.4 percent passing accuracy for the season whilst also reinventing himself in a more naturally attacking role, having previously played as both a deep-lying playmaker and as a right-sided winger this season on more than one occasion.
The recently-capped England youngster is also averaging 1.5 key passes a game for the Saints as well, only emphasizing the danger he has continued to provide this campaign. Nathan Redmond, the team’s other young attacker, is averaging 1.7 a game but only has one assist.
Ward-Prowse meanwhile has four assists in the league alone, which is tied for a team-high figure with Ryan Bertrand and Dusan Tadic, despite both players making more starting appearances that the local lad.
What’s more, he has continued to work on his dead ball game which has become part-and-parcel of his play, making him more of an all-rounded threat for the Saints on of the front foot.
Ward-Prowse has been patient enough to warrant his starting spot, having played under four different managers since grabbing his first ever goal against Coventry City in the FA Cup.
The 22-year-old will likely feature in the Southampton set-up now for some time, and is fully deserving of his place among the European imports.