James Ward Prowse: The 18-year-old Saint who tore Fulham apart

James Ward Prowse

Not for the first time this season, Southampton watched as another batch of their aspiring English talents impressed greatly in the 2-0 triumph over Fulham this weekend, helped on largely by the performances of some youngsters.

One of those being James Ward-Prowse; the 18-year-old asset who has featured in every Premier League game of the Saints’ 2013/14 campaign thus far, and is utilising his time very efficiently.

This weekend’s encounter was just the fourth start that Ward-Prowse has received, but the teenager is yet to really disappoint when given a place in the starting XI, recording a positive Performance Score on each of those occasions—this outing producing an impressive score of 32.

James Ward-Prowse – Performance Score

Of course, a contributing factor in Ward-Prowse’s majority of substitute appearances is also the fact that Mauricio Pochettino will be handling such a promising young talent with extreme caution, and rightly so.

Given the reputation of the club’s academy, it’s no surprise that Ward-Prowse is part of an talented batch of up-and-coming English talent at St. Mary’s. Against Fulham, the teenager was one of five Englishmen to start, boasting an average age of just 23 between them.

James Ward-Prowse – Action Heat map

And it’s one of those compatriots, Adam Lallana, who Ward-Prowse resembles in his style of play. Although fielded out wide, the pair are each throwbacks to the wide midfielder, choosing not to simply hug the touchline as some wingers tend to, but also tracking back and contributing to the defensive graft when possible.

That being said, it is the play-maker’s technical assets that lend themselves well to Ward-Prowse’s priorities in terms of creating scoring opportunities. The wide man made six key passes against the Cottagers, but only two of those actually came from driving to the by-line, the rest constructed as a result of cutting inside.

It wasn’t just those highlights that stood out, however. At 18 years of age, wingers garnering this amount of attention tend to be largely explosive talents, not conservative in the least and sometimes relying on key moments of brilliance as opposed to consistency — a young Theo Walcott and Alex-Oxlade Chamberlain springing to mind.

Chances created by Ward-Prowse this season

Ward-Prowse showed that he’s got more than that in his locker, completing 92% of his passes, the sixth time he’s finished with more than 85% in a match this term.

With 17 chances made so far this season, Ward-Prowse is already the chief playmaker in Pochettino’s side, despite featuring far less regularly than others.

The starlet is gradually climbing the ranks within his own side and a clean performance against Fulham was just the latest step in what already appears to be an extremely promising path, as many have supposed for some years now.

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