Ward-Prowse faces England press in hope of proving Italy point

The 27-year-old midfielder is still waiting for his 11th cap for country after being omitted by Gareth Southgate in the last two matches, versus Hungary and Germany.

Saints captain Ward-Prowse was an unused substitute in both of the away Nations League ties, but faced the press alongside the Three Lions manager ahead of Italy tomorrow.

It is a first rematch since the European Championship defeat at Wembley last summer, and an important clash with England failing to win either of the opening group matches.

Harry Kane scored a late penalty in Germany to seal England's first point (Pic: PA)

“The manager highlighted before about seeing different players in different types of games,” Ward-Prowse said. “Hopefully if that opportunity comes, then it’s a good one for myself to showcase what I can do against high-level opposition.

“It will be a good opportunity to hopefully get some minutes. Like I’ve highlighted before, it’s a great opportunity to do that.

“Everybody in the squad is here because they have performed well for their club, and you can see that in the levels of training – it’s so, so high.”

Ward-Prowse missed out on the final squad for the major tournament in 2021, despite having featured during the preliminary warm-up matches that same month.

The Saints players’ player and fans’ player of the year has been open about using that as fuel to ensure he is on the plane to Qatar in November.

“Having missed out on the European Championship squad, that’s a big hurdle for me to overcome,” he continued. “But that’s a new challenge for me and it has given me incentive to get into that World Cup squad announcement.

James Ward-Prowse in England training ahead of Italy (Pic: PA)

“I want to be there and I want to be part of that fantastic group, hopefully we can replicate the success we had. I didn’t look at it as a bad situation, I was able to come away and help the team in a small way to prepare for a major tournament.

“Any opportunity to be around the group when they’re on a successful trajectory is a great one to have. Of course it was a disappointing but I’m using everything I can to make sure I’m not in that situation again and I’m out on the pitch.

“These things happen in sport and in life, and it’s a good opportunity to reflect and make sure these things don’t happen again. It’s down to my performances to make that happen.”

Ward-Prowse comes into the England camp with arguably the best form of his career last season, producing personal best numbers with 10 goals in the Premier League campaign.

Four of those were from direct free-kicks, while no player took more corners than the skipper in the entire division.

An opportunity to put those skills into practice for the Three Lions could see him add to the two goals he has already scored on the international stage.

“I think we have got lots of players in the squad who can deliver world-class set-pieces,” Ward-Prowse admitted, though.

“Having watched the last few major tournaments, I think they have been big weapons for us for sure. They’ve given us success and that’s probably one of my strongest assets, and we see in major tournaments they can be the difference – so it’s a good weapon to have.”

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