James Ward-Prowse insists he is “very confident” that Saints can put their European disappointment behind them and qualify for next season’s Europa League.

The 20-year-old midfielder played the full 90 minutes as Saints were beaten by FC Midtjylland in Denmark on Thursday which ended their European campaign before it really had a chance to get going.

Failing to qualify for the group stages is a major blow to the club after all the hard work put in over a long season to get there.

However, despite a shaky start to this campaign, Ward-Prowse is optimistic that Saints can be back in Europe next season.

“Very confident,” he insisted.

“We’ve still got great players and a great manager in place and it’s exciting for us.

“It’s just a case of putting this game to bed and going out Sunday and getting a good result.

“We were disappointed not to qualify automatically (for the Europa League group stages) last year.

“I think the sole focus now is on the Premier League and all the lads are upbeat despite the disappointment and are focussing on Sunday.”

The match against Norwich at St Mary’s is looking increasingly vital, with Saints desperate to get a first Premier League win of the season on the board.

“I think it’s very important,” admitted Ward-Prowse.

“Heading into the international break as well it would be nice to get a first win on the board.

“We have to make sure we recover right and our heads are focussed and bounce back.”

To beat Norwich they will have to quickly get over the Midtjylland defeat, which was a shock to the system for the squad.

“Of course we are disappointed,” insisted Ward-Prowse.

“Last year we worked very hard for getting into the Europa League group stage and unfortunately it hasn’t panned out.

“We have to learn from our mistakes, dust ourselves down and focus on what’s going to be an exciting Premier League season.

“We just lacked that little bit of luck in front of goal.

“We had a couple of good chances and just needed the ball to fall to us.

“I think we were the dominant team throughout but it’s just one of those things and we have to learn from it and move on.”

Ward-Prowse confessed that the squad had believed they had enough to get past Midtjylland, even though it wasn’t to be in the end.

“I think going into the two ties we were confident that we could do the business but never underestimate any opposition and that was not the case for us,” said the England under-21 international.

“We just didn’t get the result we wanted.”