West Brom winger Mikey Johnston makes "threat" warning ahead of England clash

Johnston, 25, made a shining return to Ireland's starting XI as he created the match-winning goal for Evan Ferguson against Finland on Thursday night and is eyeing a spot in Heimir Hallgrímsson's line-up for the clash against the Three Lions.

It has taken Carlos Corberan's £3million star summer recruit from Celtic some time to find his feet at The Hawthorns this season with Karlan Grant ahead in the pecking order due to form and fitness.

But Johnston showed glimpses of the creative form from last season's loan, which prompted Albion to shell out, during the victory at Hull last weekend as the Baggies signed off the break with an important win to end a winless run of eight games.

“It’s about me finding him," Johnston said of his assist for Brighton frontman Ferguson. "It doesn’t really matter who’s playing, I need to be able to pick out these passes and choose the crosses or whether I’m coming inside and getting a shot off myself.

“I feel like I can be a threat going either way.

“We talked about it before the game about him being in the right positions, whether I was going to flash it across or hang it up.

“I knew he was going to be there. He only needs one chance and he put it away."

Johnston chalked up a first Championship assist of the season against the Tigers for Grant's opener at Hull and his fine run and cross helped create the Baggies' second for Josh Maja.

The former Celtic man, who shares an international dressing room with Baggies colleague Jayson Molumby, started out on the left of a 4-4-2 for Hallgrímsson's side and it was that flank where he flourished for Albion in his last club game as well as much of last season.

Corberan tweaked his set-up to move Grant into a two-man frontline with top scorer Maja, allowing Johnston to occupy the left side.

Johnston is confident ahead of a clash against England, who will play under interim boss Lee Carsley for a final time before Thomas Tuchel takes the role. He said: “In our shape, we are a lot better than we were in the past. Winning breeds confidence and I think as soon as you win games, lads are instantly happy.

“It’s not going to be easy but of course we’re going to be aiming to nick a result.

"I could be! (In with a shout of starting) but it's not my decision to make. Obviously I want to start, but we'll see."