Southampton are still sitting at the bottom of the table in the English Premier League. The Saints have been seasoned campaigners over the past decade, but a poor spell in the last two-to-three years has landed them at the bottom. With two-thirds of the season completed, they are competing with ten other teams to avoid relegation. Southampton made their first step to safety after a narrow 1-0 win over Chelsea. Their captain, James Ward-Prowse, scored the only goal of the match from a free-kick. The 28-year-old has been instrumental in their success over the past season. Much of his side’s safety now rests on his shoulders. We take a look at some of the stats from Ward-Prowse that show how the Englishman can take his side out of the bottom three.
James Ward-Prowse has played every minute for Southampton this season. He has appeared in 23 games and has scored six goals along with two assists. The English international plays as a right-central midfielder and as an attacking midfielder for his side. The above viz shows the percentile rank of the players in comparison to other right-sided central midfielders in the league. James Ward-Prowse has more contributions on the defensive side and holds a high percentile rank. He has a good shooting technique and is also ranked highly for goal contributions.
How has the season been so far?
James Ward-Prowse has eight goal contributions in 19 goals scored by his side this season. The midfielder is their set-piece taker. He averages 1.03 shots (42.3% accuracy rate) and 1.7 shots assists per 90 minutes. The shot map shows that Ward-Prowse has attempted most of the shots from outside the penalty box. He has scored three free-kicks and three goals from inside the penalty box. All the shots attempted by the 28-year-old from inside the penalty box have resulted in a goal. As for the shot assists, a few have been made from corners, while the others have been passes attempted into the opposition’s penalty box.
The Englishman passes the ball 42.19 times per 90 minutes and has an accuracy rate of 84.1%. These include 6.69 passes to the final third and 2.3 to the penalty box per 90 minutes. His chart of progressive passes shows that most of the passes to the penalty box have been attempted from the right side. This side gives him an angle to deliver the ball into dangerous areas, which could even lead to a goal.
Can he provide more goal contributions?
Last season, James Ward-Prowse scored ten goals and provided five assists. This was his highest goal-scoring season for the Saints. The midfielder averaged 1.42 shots per 90 minutes and had a 41.8% accuracy rate. By looking at the xG map, we can observe that the midfielder only attempted two shots from inside the penalty box, and one resulted in a goal. All the other shots were attempted from outside the box, except the four penalty shots. His shot assists also came from a similar position. However, this season he has more shot assists from the left side as compared to last season. The fans will be expecting their captain to score more free-kicks and take them out of the relegation zone.
Betting analysis
James Ward-Prowse has a huge impact on Southampton’s odds of winning the match as well as scoring goals. As per the 1×2 betting odds, their odds will rise if Ward-Prowse misses a match. The over/under on goals will also be affected. The rate for over goals will go high and under goals will go down. He is the key player on his side.
Southampton have relied a lot on their captain this season. He is helping them move out of the relegation zone. However, things are not only in his hands. Ward-Prowse needs his teammates to step up and help his side’s cause. The coming 15 matches will decide their faith.
Visuals via TFA data viz engine
