Southampton have not had the best of starts to their 21/22 Premier League campaign, as they are yet to record their first win in the league this season. They have had four draws and three defeats and are on 17th in the Premier League standings.
They have just scored five goals in the seven games, conceding ten in the same time period. The Saints lost to Chelsea 3-1 at Stamford Bridge in their latest game, where James Ward-Prowse scored their only goal of the game from the penalty spot but also received a straight red card for a tackle later on in the game.
Ward-Prowse has been a very important player for the Saints in recent seasons, and we will have a look at some of his stats in the league this season to understand how dependent his club is on him. He also received a callup to the national team replacing the injured Kalvin Phillips for England’s World cup qualifiers against Andorra and Hungary.
He has been the best player among the Saints this season and has been influential in helping out in defence and in attack as well.
Ward-Prowse has one of the most accurate passes into the final third in the entire league in spite of The saint’s poor attacking record in the league. They have only scored five goals in their seven games, and have not even won a single game. Ward-Prowse has been among the goalscorers for Southampton in recent years from open play and penalties and is their only player this season to have more than one goal. He has scored two penalties for them, to continue with his brilliant penalty-taking record in his career. He is a complete box-to-box midfielder who contributes in attack and does equally well while helping out in defence.
The above viz shows the interceptions made by Ward-Prowse in the Premier League this season. The 26-year-old has been showing his presence all over the pitch and has made interceptions and recoveries in his own half as well as in the opposition half. He has been involved in a lot of duels and has shown a great work rate in his games for the Saints.
Along with his interceptions, penalties and defensive abilities, the young midfielder has also been a great passer. Even though his team have had a poor season, had very little possession and lost many of their games, he has better passing stats than most Premier League players. The black line in the above viz shows the average of the stat of all players in the league, and it can be seen that Ward-Prowse is better than the average in most of them. Every attack that Southampton create goes through him, and he has proven to be their best player in the last couple of seasons.
Ward-Prowse’s heat map shows the kind of hard work he puts on the football pitch, covering the entire field and predominantly being in the central area. he has been a great talent, and at 26 years of age, is entering the prime of his career. It is expected that one of the big six clubs or other Premier League clubs might be interested in signing him, but at the moment, he has been faithful to the Saints and has signed a new five year deal with the club recently.
