World Cup 2018 play-off draw: Jonny Evans believes no European heavyweight will want to face Northern Ireland

Green and Whites will not be seeded for the two-legged tie meaning they could draw European heavyweights like Italy, Portugal or Croatia

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Jonny Evans believes no side left in the World Cup qualification process will want to face Northern Ireland in next month’s play-offs.

Michael O’Neill’s side finished runners-up to Germany in Group C but will not be seeded for the two-legged tie meaning they could draw European heavyweights like Italy, Portugal or Croatia.

The draw for the play-offs will be made next week but the prospect of facing a side containing the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo or Gianluigi Buffon is not a daunting one for Evans.

“We're a real hard-working team, we defend really well as a unit, we all work hard for each other and that's not nice to play against," the West Brom defender said.

“We've got a good defensive record throughout the campaign, we're disappointed conceding a goal [against Norway on Sunday], it would have been nice to have the eight clean sheets.

“I think a lot of teams will fear us. Every team that plays us talks about our strength on set pieces and being hard to break down.

“I think there's a fine balance between underestimating and being fearful. I think teams will cover all aspects and will look at us and see we are good at set pieces - but they haven't been able to deal with it up until now, and that's just one aspect of our game, they can't handle us on set plays.”

Germany went through qualifying with a perfect 10 wins from 10 but Evans believes his team deserve huge respect for securing their chief objective of a play-off spot.

“Michael's a realist; there's not many people can admit that and just say, 'Right, Germany are going to win the group'. That's a big statement to make,” Evans added.

“I actually can remember the picture he put on the screen with Germany and said, 'Right, cut them off at the top, we're going to win this sort of mini-league below them'.

“We've managed to do that and it's always satisfying whenever you're able to hit those targets.

“We have to give ourselves a lot of credit and I think a lot of other people have to give us a lot of credit. It's an amazing achievement when you see where all of the lads are playing - some are playing League One, some are Championship, some Premier League.

“It's a real mixture that has come together and managed to achieve something great.”