Prediction: Norway vs Sweden

Verdict: Both teams to score

Best Odds: 10/11

Bookmaker: William Hill

Neighbours Norway and Sweden head into the Tuesday’s friendly at Ullevaal Stadion in Oslo in contrasting moods with the hosts ending their World Cup dream and their opponents recording an impressive triumph over France to edge closer to the tournament finals in Russia.

Norway

After taking just three points from the first four 2018 World Cup qualifiers, head coach Per-Mathias Hogmo was relieved of his duties, with former Sweden and Iceland boss Lars Lagerback appointed in his place. The 2-0 loss to Northern Ireland in his first game in charge all but ended Norway’s hopes of reaching the tournament finals, but the team showed a great deal of improvement in the very next game. The Nordic side completely outclassed a very good Czech Republic team as Lagerback switched to 4-4-2 formation and they were quite unfortunate not to record the second win of the campaign. Even though the team have lost all chances to book a ticket to Russia, they will use remaining four qualifiers to build a good base for the next qualifying campaign and there are no doubts Norway will want to continue the good run of form in the friendly against neighbours Sweden.

Team News

Joshua King and Adama Diomande were surprisingly overlooked, while Martin Linnes, Omar Elabdellaoui and Tore Reginiussen miss out through injury.

Sweden

Sweden had a pretty disappointing Euro 2016 tournament as the team failed to give superstar Zlatan Ibrahimovic a worthy send off, but they have since showed a great deal of improvement. Blagult picked up 10 points from first 5 qualifiers and looked to be heading for a second-place finish, but they then managed to defeat group leaders France and in turn leapfrogged them in the standings. Sweden were pretty fortunate to emerge victorious as Hugo Lloris made a shocking mistake deep into injury time that Ola Toivonen pounced on, but credit to Janne Andersson’s charges for never giving up. Sweden still have some tough games to negotiate as they play Bulgaria, Belarus and Netherlands on the road, but first they will try and make it five wins in a row when they face rivals Norway at Ullevaal Stadion in Oslo. Even though the head coach allowed four starters to leave the national team camp, we expect the Swedes to take the international friendly very seriously.

Team News

Marcus Berg, Mikael Lustig, Andreas Granqvist and Robin Olsen are not in contention for the Norway clash, while John Guidetti and Andreas Linde should start.

Key Factors to Consider

• Norway won two of last four meetings with Sweden (D1 L1)
• However, they failed to win any of last three meetings at home (D2 L1)
• Sweden are on a four-match winning run
• Blagult released four starters from the France game
• Norway lost six of last eight games at home (W1 D1)

Conclusion

Having showed a great deal of improvement against Czech Republic, Norway will be very motivated to end a poor run on home soil, while Sweden will be looking to extend an excellent streak of results. Therefore, we expect to see an open game at Ullevaal and quite a few goals scored.

Verdict: Both teams to score

Best Odds: 10/11

Bookmaker: William Hill