Nations League games can give Wales World Cup momentum, says Chris Mepham

Defender Chris Mepham signed a new Bournemouth contract earlier this month

Chris Mepham says Nations League games against Belgium and Poland offer Wales the chance to gain World Cup momentum.

Wales go to Belgium on Thursday before hosting the Poles next Sunday.

While Wales are aiming to avoid Nations League relegation this week, the fixtures are also the last for Rob Page's side before the World Cup.

"It can be difficult to give your full focus when you've got the opportunity of a lifetime around the corner," said Bournemouth defender Mepham.

"But these games are really important to fine-tune what we need to work on.

"We don't have the luxury of a warm-weather training camp where you can bond with each other, train, build your fitness and have some preparation games.

"These are our preparation games and it's important we take any sort of momentum from these games to the World Cup."

Wales go into their final two Nations League fixtures without a win in this campaign

They need at least one victory this week if they are to remain in the top tier of the Nations League.

Page will not meet his squad again until a week before Wales' opening World Cup fixture against USA on 21 November.

Page - who recently signed a new four-year deal - will hope to have more of a complete squad in Qatar, with injuries ruling out Aaron Ramsey, Joe Allen, Ben Davies and Harry Wilson of this week's games.

Captain Gareth Bale linked up with the squad late having travelled from Los Angeles and may not feature against Belgium.

Mepham, 24, says dreams of featuring in Qatar will be in the minds of players during this camp.

"I think naturally you are [playing for places] but you don't want that in your head, you don't want to think that if you don't have a good game you might not start," he added.

"We need to give a good account of ourselves individually and collectively, and hopefully give the manager a problem when it comes to picking the team.

"I think everybody will be the same - being on the plane is one thing, but actually playing out there is a completely different one. Hopefully I can do both."

The 32-cap centre-back is likely to start in Brussels having started all seven of Bournemouth's games since their return to the Premier League.

That included the record-equalling 9-0 defeat by Liverpool, a result and performance Mepham admits left him stunned while determined not to let it affect him.

Yet Mepham and his international team-mates can expect a stern challenge against Roberto Martinez's Belgium, even if Wales have only lost two of eight games in the last 10 years against the team currently ranked second in the world.

"We've shown in the past we can go toe-to-toe with them," Mepham added. "If we get two good performances and two good results, no matter who we play in the World Cup we know we can do it again."