Southampton: 5 reasons why Ward-Prowse should be in England squad

By Marc Walker | Mar 14, 2019

SOUTHAMPTON, ENGLAND - MARCH 09: James Ward-Prowse of Southampton celebrates after scoring his team's second goal during the Premier League match between Southampton FC and Tottenham Hotspur at St Mary's Stadium on March 09, 2019 in Southampton, United Kingdom. (Photo by Catherine Ivill/Getty Images) /

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OLOMOUC, CZECH REPUBLIC – JUNE 21: James Ward-Prowse, Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Jesse Lingard of England look on from the bench during the UEFA Under21 European Championship 2015 match between Sweden and England at Andruv Stadium on June 21, 2015 in Olomouc, Czech Republic. (Photo by Michael Regan/Getty Images) /

More game time than direct rivals

Despite only being a regular once Ralph Hasenhuttl was appointed as Saints manager, Ward-Prowse has started the last 11 league games and has played 1,289 minutes of Premier League football this season.

When Gareth Southgate was appointed as England manager, he spoke about selecting players on form and game time rather than reputation but that doesn’t seem to be the case here.

Ward-Prowse has more minutes in the top-flight than Ruben Loftus-Cheek (430 mins), Ross Barkley (975 mins), Fabian Delph (1,223 mins) and Dele Alli (1,281 mins) this season.

Whilst these players provide different strengths to the current squad, Ward-Prowse can certainly feel hard done by in this aspect.