Evan Ferguson is expected to play some part for the Republic of Ireland against England.

But new Irish boss Heimir Hallgrimsson was keeping his cards close to his chest as he spoke to the media ahead of the UEFA Nations League clash in Dublin.

Ferguson has not played for club or country since a brief outing towards the end of Albion’s 2-1 defeat at Liverpool five months ago.

He was an unused sub in the recent Carabao Cup win over Crawley and travelled with the squad to the Arsenal game last Saturday, without making the matchday 20.

The fully-fit Republic squad trained at the Aviva Stadium on Friday morning with Hallgrimsson potentially informing them of the line-up later in the day.

He told a press conference, with a laugh: “It’s basically none of your business when I talk to the players and show them the line-up!

“But usually I’ve done it matchday minus one in the afternoon so the players can sleep on the starting XI.

“That’s the normal way. If I do it now, I’m not sure.

“The reason I do that is for the players to know and think about it in bed matchday minus one and be prepared.”

Albion head coach Fabian Huerzeler has made it clear he looks forward to working with Ferguson over the season.

Huerzeler said: “He knows what we want from him.

“He's very interested in how our style of play is and you really feel that he wants to improve and that he's really into it.

“I heard a lot of positive things about him.

“I saw a lot of positive things and we try to help him.

“We try to improve him and then he can be a really good striker in the Premier League.”