How Gareth Bale is helping Brennan Johnson prepare for the Premier League with Nottingham Forest

Nottingham Forest star Brennan Johnson hopes a combination of Premier League football and learning from Gareth Bale will help him secure a place in Wales' World Cup squad.

Johnson helped Wales qualify last week for their first World Cup finals since 1958, doing so by beating Ukraine just seven days after he earned promotion to the Premier League with Forest in the play-off final at Wembley Stadium.

The prospect of playing in the Premier League is now spurring Johnson on to play in his first World Cup, due to be held in Qatar this November and December.

“Seeing the boys who are in the Premier League and doing well, it puts them in good stead to play in these big (Wales) games," he said. "Now I’ll be doing it, I will be testing myself against good players every week in the Premier League. So when I come into these Wales games I’ll have better experience of playing at the highest level. The more club games I can impress in, it makes you want to start. It only helps.”

Not only is Johnson looking forward to benefitting from Premier League football, but he also wants to continue learning from Wales captain Gareth Bale.

Johnson said: “He’s such a good player and I pick up little things from him daily from every session. When I’m on the bench, I’m watching little things he does in games. The way he gets past people is something I want to do in my game.”