James Ward-Prowse: 'No excuse not to do well at Under-21 European Championship'

By Pascal Lemesre, Football League Editor | 19 May 2015

James Ward-Prowse is confident that England can perform strongly at the upcoming Under-21 European Championship, no matter who is named in the squad.

Southampton midfielder James Ward-Prowse has insisted that there is "no excuse" for England not to do well at the upcoming Under-21 European Championship.

Much of the talk in the build-up has been over who manager Gareth Southgate would include in his squad. The likes of Harry Kane and Ross Barkley are eligible, but might not be included as their clubs are wary of burn-out after a long Premier League season.

Southgate names his provisional squad for the upcoming tournament in the Czech Republic tomorrow and Ward-Prowse is confident that the Young Lions can have a strong tournament, whoever is included.

"It is a real joy to play for England and go away with them," he told PA. "Everybody is excited to go and hopefully win the tournament.

"The manager has geared the preparation well around tournament football and making sure we get a good test of all sort of teams.

"There's no excuses for not doing well at the tournament. It is up to us to go and perform under pressure on the big stage."

England will hope to improve on their performance at the last tournament when they were knocked out in the group stage after defeats to Italy, Norway and Israel.