Dusan Tadic may be the leading man for Saints with assists in Premier league games but it is James Ward Prowse who has the better ratio of assists to minutes on the pitch.
Dusan Tadic has got most of the plaudits for being the provider of the most Saints goals and indeed only Chelsea’s Cesc Fabregas (14) and Swansea’s Gylfi Sigurdsson (8) have set up more goals in the Premier League this season that Tadic.
However James Ward Prowse despite only starting 7 league games this season plus a further 3 as sub compared to tadic's 18, is still lying fourth in the overall table with 5 assists to his name.
So the given that 4 of Tadic's 7 assists came in one game the 8-0 thrashing of Sunderland, the figures suggest that James Ward Prowse with around half of the minutes on the pitch than Tadic is the most likely player in Saints starting line up to provide a goal.
But JWP is far from certain of a place in the starting line up on Sunday, with Victor Wanyama and Morgan Schneiderlin sure to occupy the deeper lying central midfield role, Ronald Koeman has to decide whether to go for Steven Davis or JWP for the third more attacking spot.
Davis seems the more likely to be selected as he is more of the tackler and general battler of the two, something that will be valuable when taking on a United side who have won 8 out of 10 home games and have lost only once that on the opening day of the season to Swansea, given that their only other dropped points came back in October when Chelsea drew 1-1, Old Trafford is again the bastion of invincability that it used to be.
However Koeman could opt to use either in a wider role and in this respect the Dutch Saints manager has plenty of options to ponder in how to beat his fellow compatriot.
But back to Ward-Prowse, he has the ability to change games and is sadly one of those players that fans sometimes underestimate as like Steven Davis he is a player who concentrates on doing the basics well rather than the more showy things that can sometimes produce the spectacular but when playing the percentage game more than often produce less goals than doing the simple things.
Football teams though need a happy balance and it is great that JWP is now back from injury, add Jack Cork and Nathaniel Clyne back into the squad and it is looking very well balanced.