JAMES Ward-Prowse admitted it would be “a bit strange” for Saints’ squad not to be fully together before the start of the season but added: “We all have to maintain our focus.”

The Saints skipper is one of a number of players jetting off on international duty ahead of the start of the Premier League campaign.

His stellar form earned himself and Danny Ings a recall to the England squad, while Shane Long (Ireland), Jannik Vestergaard (Denmark), Stuart Armstrong (Scotland) and Jan Bednarek (Poland) are also set to represent their respective nations.

They are not due back until days before Ralph Hasenhuttl’s men make the trip to Crystal Palace, in their top-flight curtain-raiser on September 12 (3pm).

Asked how much hard work would be put in for the trip to the Eagles, Ward-Prowse told the club website: “It’s going to be a bit strange because we won’t be together a lot beforehand. Everybody is kind of here, there and everywhere.

“We all have to maintain our focus and make sure that when we come back from international duty, we are all ready to go. It’s come round quick and we are all raring to go.

“You have to go ahead with the schedule and crack on. There’s a real focus amongst us and a real confidence that we are building something special.

“There’s a real buzz around the place, so we want to make sure we take that into the first game.”

The 25-year-old signed off ahead of Three Lions duty by scoring twice, as Saints thumped Swansea 7-1 in a pre-season friendly on Saturday.

Speaking about that contest, the midfielder said: “I think it was a tough test for us but good to get the first game out of the way and blow off a few of the cobwebs we’ve had.

“I think the main thing was implementing the stuff we had worked on during the week, you can see everybody is clicking together now and we are putting things into place.

“There’s a real understanding amongst everybody now in terms of how we play. We’ve improved our game without the ball and with the ball more importantly.

“We created more chances and you can see the confidence flowing amongst everybody right now.”