How Arsenal, Liverpool, Spurs and Chelsea stars shone as Saints ace fires Under-21s to win
James Ward-Prowse celebrates after scoring the only goal of the game from the penalty spot
JAMES WARD-PROWSE repaid Gareth Southgate's trust by scoring the winner as England Under-21s beat Norway 1-0 in their Euro 2017 qualifier.
 
The Southampton midfielder was recently given the captain's armband by Southgate and kept his nerve to smash home from the penalty spot and give England the perfect start to qualification.
On their most difficult qualifier to date, it wasn't just the Saints youngster who shone, however, with Arsenal's Calum Chambers and Tottenham's Eric Dier marshalling a stellar defensive display in Norway.
 
Liverpool's Joe Gomez and Ward Prowse's club team-mate Matt Targett made up the rest of the back four and were impenetrable during a difficult 90 minutes.
That was despite the hosts recalling Real Madrid starlet Martin Odegaard, who was kept largely at bay by an organised England back line.
Norway, in fact, played the better football in the first half and had the visitors pegged back at times.
 
But the Gunners' faithful will be encouraged by the display from Chambers, who has recently come in for criticism for some shaky performances for his club.
Norwich's Nathan Redmond, whose direct running won the penalty, also showed flashes of why he has started this term so promisingly, while Spurs fans got another glimpse of Dele Alli's potential.
 
How Arsenal, Liverpool, Spurs and Chelsea stars shone as Saints ace fires Under-21s to win
Ward-Prowse wasted no time in justifying manager Gareth Southgate's decision to name him captain
Elsewhere, Chelsea's Nathaniel Chalobah was solid during his 45 minutes after replacing Alli to shore up the midfield, and team-mate Ruben Loftus-Cheek played 70 minutes before being replaced by Brighton's Jake Forster-Caskey.
Liverpool's Jordon Ibe also played the whole match despite Nigeria's attempts to lure him into playing for them.
However, it was Dier who was arguably the stand-out performer on the night.
The Spurs defender has been deployed in midfield for the most-part this season.
And their supporters must be wondering why after witnessing this and their team's stuttering start to the Premier League season

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