Norway vs Kosovo Prediction: Lions to end winless run on Wednesday

Norway and Kosovo meet in an international friendly at the Ullevaal Stadion on Wednesday (KO, 18:00), with neither nation having qualified for Euro 2024.

Read on for my Norway vs Kosovo prediction and all the latest team news ahead of this midweek game in Oslo, which will serve as the first-ever meeting between these sides in football.

Team News

Norway head coach Stale Solbakken suffered a blow to his plans when Villarreal striker Alexander Sorloth, who scored 23 times in the 2023/24 La Liga season, was struck down by injury in the Yellow Submarines' final-day draw with Osasuna last month.

The 28-year-old will miss both friendlies this month - the second against Denmark on Saturday - which could hand an opportunity to the likes of Oskar Bobb (Manchester City) and the uncapped Erik Botheim (Malmo).

Arsenal's Martin Odegaard and Man City's Erling Haaland are the two star names on show in midweek, with both looking to plot a route past Kosovo number one Arijanet Muric, recently relegated from the Premier League with Burnley.

Record goalscorer Verdat Muriqi looks set to start in attack, ably supported by Lille star Edon Zhegrova, but former Norwich City winger Milot Rashica will miss out through injury.

Norway vs Kosovo Odds

*Please click on the link above to be taken to the main Norway vs Kosovo page on betfred.com (or app) for all the live betting prices on this match.

Norway are 2/5 to beat Kosovo on Wednesday, giving them an implied win probability of 71.4%, while the visitors are 7/1, or a 12.5% chance.

The draw is available at 100/30, both teams to score at 11/10, and over 2.5 goals at 5/6.

Norway to win & both teams to score @ 12/5

Scoring goals hasn't really been an issue for Norway, who struck in each of their friendlies in March, and in eight of their 10 internationals last year. In fact, only Spain have kept them out (twice) since a 2-0 defeat to Serbia in September 2022.

Shutting out the opposition hasn't been quite so straightforward, however - they've kept just three clean sheets in their last 17 matches. One of those was in a 2-0 win against the Faroe Islands, currently 131st in the FIFA rankings, another in a 4-0 victory over Cyprus (124th), and the third in a 6-0 thrashing of Jordan (71st).

Kosovo (102nd) are higher than the first two and below Jordan, but have found joy in front of goal against Switzerland over the past nine months, scoring twice in a 2-2 draw last September and once in a 1-1 draw two months later.

The Dardanians have scored in 12 of their last 16 internationals dating back to September 2022 and have a prolific goalscorer at the top end of the pitch in Muriqi.

The Real Mallorca striker hasn't had his best season in Spain, scoring just seven times in 27 La Liga outings after hitting 15 in 2022/23, but remains a threat in the opposition's box.

Muriqi was Kosovo's joint-top scorer in their Euro 2024 qualifying group, scoring three goals (level with Rashica) - two of them in their first stalemate with Switzerland.

Norway have shipped six goals across their last three games, conceding three in one game against Scotland (3-3), and are likely to struggle to keep a clean sheet once again.

However, their firepower should see them through to end their three-match winless run.

Erling Haaland to score 2 or more goals @ 18/5

It wasn't the end to the season the Man City striker had hoped for as his side suffered the embarrassment of losing to rivals Manchester United in the FA Cup final, with the 23-year-old failing to get on the scoresheet.

However, Haaland did score seven times across City's final five league games, hitting four past Wolverhampton Wanderers and bagging a brace against Tottenham Hotspur.

He will be looking to take his Premier League form, which saw him pick up back-to-back Golden Boots after plundering 27 this season, onto the international stage after drawing blanks in his last three games for Norway, which constitutes a barren run for a player of his quality.

Haaland missed Norway's matches against the Faroe Islands and Scotland as well, meaning he has not scored for his country since netting twice in a 4-0 victory over Cyprus on October 12.

Those were his 26th and 27th senior international goals in just 31 caps, and when he does score, another one tends to follow.

Haaland has scored at least twice in a match on eight separate occasions for Norway, doing so twice in 2023.

Kosovo aren't the easiest team to break down, but I'm backing Haaland to take his FA Cup final frustrations out on them with a couple of goals in Oslo, at the enticing price of 18/5.

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