KEVIN Nolan will be with England at the World Cup next summer - if only in spirit.

The Wanderers ace does not expect to make Sven Goran Eriksson's squad list, but that will not stop him giving his wholehearted support to the men who do.

Nolan, whose recent performances have rocked the Premiership, would love to add full honours to the U21 and Youth caps he has already gained, but he has repeatedly played down his international prospects, citing the wealth of midfield talent Eriksson has at his disposal.

"We've got a great quartet of midfield players in the England team, who play regularly," Nolan said, acknowledging the claims of David Beckham, Steven Gerrard, Frank Lampard and Joe Cole.

"And the lads backing them up are all fantastic players.

"We're going to go to the World Cup fairly strong and, hopefully, they are going to do us all proud and, hopefully, bring it back."

Missing out on the England squad for the showpiece friendly against Argentina in Geneva has at last given Nolan the chance to take a break after his recent high-tempo performances for Wanderers, who played six games in 18 days, drawing one and winning five.

"It's been a hard three weeks," he said. "We haven't had a day off."

Nolan admitted his legs were "feeling heavy" in the early stages of the Spurs game, but he perked up considerably after lashing in his fourth goal in five games as stand-in captain - a 25-yard thunderbolt that won the game and lifted Wanderers to third in the Premiership going ino the two-week break.

"It was important to go into the international break with a good result behind us," he said. "We have to be happy at the way everything's gone but this is what we set out to do.

"We set our targets at the beginning of the season and at the moment we are sticking to them.

"But we know that this time last year, we went through that bad patch and it wasn't what we expected.

"It just shows how quickly things can turn round.

"It's important now that we enjoy the break but we must be on top of our game when we get back.

"Hopefully, we can keep producing good results and getting the rewards we deserve."