Thursday evening brings us further action from the Nations League and a League B Group 4 encounter between the group leaders, Norway, and the basement dwellers, Slovenia, when the two teams meet at the Ullevaal Stadion in Oslo.
Following back to back wins against Serbia and Sweden in 1-0 and 2-1 victories respectively, and both wins being away from home, Norway know that another three points against Slovenia in this fixture would see them take a huge step towards promotion up to League A.
Hvordan er det egentlig å ta straffespark foran 40 000 pipende svensker?🥶 Gjenopplev søndagen i Stockholm her🇳🇴 @ErlingHaaland pic.twitter.com/LZyUTL6Sma— Fotballandslaget (@nff_landslag) June 6, 2022
Hvordan er det egentlig å ta straffespark foran 40 000 pipende svensker?🥶 Gjenopplev søndagen i Stockholm her🇳🇴 @ErlingHaaland pic.twitter.com/LZyUTL6Sma
In actual fact, Norway have now won their last four matches on the trot and includes previous wins against Slovakia and Armenia, the latter being a comprehensive 9-0 rout and with the likes of irrepressible striker, Erling Haaland, up front with 11 goals from his last 7 appearances for the national side, Norway will take some beating here.
The bigger picture shows that Norway have lost just two of their last 11 games on home soil and the hosts have also kept seven clean sheets within this period as well, so goals may be at a minimum in this clash, especially for Slovenia.
Onto the visitors then and Slovenia have found the step up into League B a tough proposition following promotion from League C at the end of their previous Nations League campaign.
Early back to back defeats against Sweden and Serbia have dumped Slovenia to the bottom of Group 4 and the visitors now face an extremely tough task of taming an in-form and confident Norway outfit in their own back yard on Thursday night.
The bigger picture shows Slovenia have won just one of their last seven matches overall, that rare success coming in the shape of a 2-1 home win over Cyprus but three defeats within this period suggest this upcoming trip to Norway may also end in further disappointment.
The outlook doesn’t look to become any brighter away from home either as Slovenia have managed to capture just one win from their last 10 outings on their travels, which was a 4-0 win at minnows, Malta, but with five of these 10 games also resulting in under 2.5 goals and failing to score in four of them, the visitors will do well to score in Oslo.
Norway have won each of the previous four meetings at home against Slovenia and the hosts look set for further success here as well.