SAINTS captain James Ward-Prowse revealed he’s never been more excited about starting a new season.

The south coast outfit ended their 2019/20 Premier League campaign in 11th, picking up 52 points along the way.

They also ended the season without a defeat in their final seven games, which included a win against former top-flight champions Manchester City.

Ward-Prowse said: “It was a great way to end the season.

“We wanted to finish off on a high and we knew going into the game that we were six games unbeaten.

“We wanted to finish strong and start building a platform for next year.

“I think it’s always been the club’s goal to break into that top 10.

“As a Saints player, this is the most excited I’ve been in a very long time to be part of this team.

“We’ve got a manager who has got us playing in a really exciting way. We are developing all the time and as a player that’s all you want to be part of.”

As part of their plans for next season, Ward-Prowse hopes Saints are able to turn St Mary’s into a fortress.

They ended the campaign 19th in the home form table and avoided coming last due to Norwich’s wretched season on their own seal.

The St Mary’s skipper reckons adding more wins on the south coast would propel Saints higher up the top-flight standings.

 “I think a lot of people have spoken about away form, but I think we can be even more successful if we can make this place a fortress and win our home games,” Ward-Prowse continued.

“If we are able to do that then we can break into the top 10 and become even more successful.”

Both Danny Ings and Che Adams were on target during their win against Sheffield United.

Ings missed out on winning this year’s Golden Boot by just one goal, as Leicester’s Jamie Vardy netted 23 times.

Saints’ players were doing everything they could in the closing moments to feed the ball to their star striker, but it wasn’t to be.

“If you said to him before the season that he’d get 25 goals in all competitions I’m sure he would have taken it,” the midfielder added.

“We were all willing him to get a couple more.

“We all know he’ll say getting three points was the most important thing but secretly he wanted the Golden Boot.”

Ward-Prowse also believes Adams can take his goalscoring run into next season and hit the ground running, adding: “He’s got everything to be a top striker and he just needed that first goal to get off the mark.

“What’s great for us as a team is that Che is great around the place. You can tell he wants to be here and that he wants to improve. That’s all we can ask for.

“If he does that regularly then I’m sure the goals will come as well.”