Northern Ireland manager Michael O'Neill says it is "very positive" for his side to have another player featuring in the Premier League after Callum Marshall's senior West Ham debut on Saturday.
World Cup qualifying: Northern Ireland v Slovakia
Venue: Windsor Park, Belfast Date: Friday, 10 October Time: 19:45 BST
Coverage: Watch on BBC One NI and BBC iPlayer, listen on BBC Radio Ulster and BBC Sounds, follow live text coverage on the BBC Sport website & app
Northern Ireland manager Michael O'Neill said it is "very positive" for his side to have another player featuring in the Premier League after Callum Marshall's senior West Ham debut on Saturday.
The 20-year-old striker was brought on for the final half hour of his side's 2-0 defeat by Arsenal at the Emirates.
Speaking after the game, the Hammers' new manager Nuno Espirito Santo said Marshall definitely has something his side "can use" across the remainder of the season.
Northern Ireland face Slovakia in a key 2026 World Cup qualifier at Windsor Park on Friday night with Marshall becoming the fifth different player in O'Neill's squad to feature in England's top flight this season.
"There's a lot going on there for a young player to deal with but Callum's very focused, very driven and trains extremely hard and wants to do well" said O'Neill of a player who had loan spells at West Bromwich Albion and Huddersfield Town over the past two seasons.
"[He] is impatient, which you expect in young players as well, and I'm delighted. Callum always shows up well in the camp. Every camp he comes in, it's always difficult.
"If you look around the Premier League, there's not many 20-year-old number nines getting loads of minutes so it's a big challenge for him to get that and it was very positive to see Nuno giving him those minutes so early in his tenure at the club."
NI squad at 'different stage' than 2016
With Conor Bradley featuring for Liverpool, Justin Devenny for Crystal Palace and Sunderland duo Trai Hume and Daniel Ballard both taking on Manchester United, last weekend marked the first time Northern Ireland have had five players feature in the same Premier League weekend in five years.
After Jonny Evans retired from international football last summer, Bradley was the only player in the panel with Premier League experience. Devenny's Crystal Palace bow came last August before Hume and Ballard achieved promotion from the Championship for this campaign.
"Daniel and Trai and Conor and Justin are all making inroads into the Premier League," O'Neill added.
"I think people make comparisons at times with the team that qualified for the Euros. I don't think that's a good comparison because we had seven or eight players that played in the Premier League and had played most of their career, if not all of their career, in the Premier League.
"[There is] playing in the Premier League and there is staying in the Premier League and this team's at a different stage of their careers from a lot of where those players were. Hopefully they will go on to have careers like Johnny Evans and Steven Davis and Craig Cathcart and people like that, but they're still at the start of that process."
Category: General Sports
