Ward-Prowse: I believe in this team

Saints’ campaign included home and away draws with Man City, a come-from-behind victory at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium and a run to the quarter-finals of the Emirates FA Cup.

Ninth in the table with 12 games left, Saints won only one of those, leaving the skipper lamenting an opportunity missed.

“I think it’s been a season of ups and downs – good moments, bad moments, but I think we’re all going to go through that,” he said.

“I think the challenge for us is to limit those bad runs and become more solid and find that consistency in our play, because I believe in the team and the club, it can be a top-10 club and we can be pushing on – we’ve shown it in recent years.

“It’s up to us to go away and think about what we’ve done this year and make sure we’re not having this same conversation next year and we’re in a stronger position.

“Speaking to the lads in the changing room after the game you can feel the togetherness and the feeling within the group is great.

“It’s important that we learn from this year, we go away, have a bit of time away and come back fresh and ready for next year.”

Ward-Prowse also had a message to the Saints supporters, who travelled in numbers to the last game of the season at Leicester on Sunday.

“A big thank you, but also apologies from our half that we couldn’t give them more,” he added.

“I can’t fault the desire, the determination and the commitment from the lads – everybody’s played their hearts out and ran after every ball.

“But we know we can do better. We’ll promise next year we’ll be giving them even more and hopefully getting this club to where we believe it belongs.”