Fulham winger Harry Wilson says Craig Bellamy has got the best out of him since taking over as Welsh manager – and insisted it is a collective effort for a new generation of players to fill the void left by Gareth Bale’s retirement.

Wilson will return to the Welsh side for the first time since breaking a bone in his foot in January against Liechtenstein in Cardiff on Friday night before they aim to extend an excellent recent run of results against Group J top seeds Belgium in Brussels three days later as they look to qualify for next summer’s World Cup.

Wilson told BBC Sport:

“Since Craig’s come in, I feel like the way he likes to play, the way we set up I feel it really suits me. Playing that inside role is a role that I love to play. I feel like I’m always involved. It allows me to play in the position where I feel I am most effective. The way we play really, really suits me and thankfully I’ve been able to show that in the goals and the assists and the involvement I’ve had in games. Hopefully, I can take that into these two games we’ve got now.

All of us attacking players feel like that [they have had to step up after Bale’s retirement]. Nobody’s going to replace Gareth. He was our captain, our best player, our talisman. He get us through games, he got us to tournaments. I don’t think anyone’s stupid enough to think that one person is going to replace him – it’s up to us as attacking players as an attacking line that we all stepped up and we all contributed. I feel like we’ve done that. I feel like my numbers have been good, but I’m not the only one. I think everyone in that forward line is contributing, they’re scoring goals, they are assisting and I feel like that’s what you have to do when you lose a player like that.”

Wilson, who is set to win his 61st cap against Liechtenstein, says Bellamy’s impact since taking the job has been remarkable.

“We’ve gone eight games unbeaten since the manager’s come in and to do at international level is not easy at all. It shows what a good team we are. The style we’re playing now, both on the ball and off the ball, suits a lot of players in this team and that’s why we’re on such a good run.”