Non-stop: James Ward-Prowse becomes the first midfielder two play every minute of TWO consecutive seasons

Josip Brajkovic
Josip Brajkovic
Published: 26.5.2021.


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Non-stop: James Ward-Prowse becomes the first midfielder two play every minute of TWO consecutive seasons

Finishing their season 15th, Southampton will have little to remember this season bar some humiliating results. A shining light in the campaign has been the domestic boy James Ward-Prowse who enjoyed his most successful year in terms of attacking stats. But that's not the most impressive stat of the English midfielder.


Having played the last game of the season against West Ham through its entirety, Ward-Prowse has played every minute of every Premier League game Southampton played for TWO consecutive seasons! Becoming the first midfielder to do so in the history of the competition!


Named Fans' Player of the Season for 2020/21, the Saints captain spent 6,840 minutes (plus added time) on the pitch in the English top division combined with the last season. In this campaign, in the 3,420 minutes he scored eight goals and made seven assists. Last campaign, in those 3,420 minutes he scored five times and assisted his teammates three times.


To make the 26-year-old's improvement all that impressive, Ward-Prowse never played more than 2,000 minutes of league football in the seven seasons he played prior to these two.


Completing the last 77 Premier League games and starting the last 89 matches in all competitions – substituted once in the FA Cup due to injury – Ward-Prowse last started a league game amongst the substitutes in May 2019. Also against West Ham at the end of the 2018/19 season.


For comparisons, Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg is the only other Premier League player who has played in all 3,420 minutes this season. Although he played 2,751 minutes last season when he was also a Saints player. West Ham's Thomas Soucek was also industrious this season, playing 3,419 minutes without stoppage time.


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