Norway vs Italy Prediction: Hegerberg to lead Norway to last four?

Norway and Italy will contest the first of this week's four quarter-final ties at the Uefa Women's European Championship on Wednesday night (20:00 BST, live on BBC One).

The winner of this contest will meet either England or Sweden in the semi-finals, and you can find my Norway vs Italy predictions, as well as the latest team news and match odds, below.

Team News

Norway will be without Marit Lund, who will serve a one-match suspension following her red card in Thursday's win over Iceland.

Thea Bjelde, Ingrid Engen, Guro Reiten and Ada Hegerberg were all rested for the final group game, so all four could be recalled to the starting XI on Wednesday.

Frida Maanum and Signe Gaupset will retain their places in the side after both scored braces in game against Iceland, while Barcelona star Caroline Graham Hansen could return to the fold after she was rested on Thursday.

As for Italy, Cristiana Girelli may replace Martina Piemonte up front, having scored three goals across her last three starts for her country. Meanwhile, Elisabetta Oliviero is expected to retain her place in the side after scoring against Spain last Thursday.

Elena Linari, Cecilia Salvai and Martina Lenzini will make up the back three, protecting Laura Giuliani between the sticks.

Norway vs Italy Odds

Italy are 6/4 to win the match, giving them an implied win probability of 40%, while Norway are 2/1 and the draw can be backed at 21/10.

To win the tie, Norway are currently priced at 1/1, with Italy 8/11 favourites. Hegerberg leads the anytime goalscorer market at 15/8, while Girelli is shortest-priced for Italy at 2/1.

Match Result - Norway to win @ 2/1

Norway finished top of Group A with a perfect record, beating Switzerland, Finland and Iceland on their way to the quarter-final stages. That meant a spot in the knockout rounds for the first time since 2013 after bowing out during the groups in 2017 and 2022.

The two-time European champions head into this contest as the underdog against an Italian side who have emerged as one of the tournament's dark horses. Andrea Soncin’s side emerged from a tougher group, losing to Spain along the way, but their only win so far has come against Belgium and they shared the spoils with Portugal in their other group game.

I'm going to side with the underdogs here and back them to get the better of the Italians, as they're in better form and more importantly, are yet to taste defeat at these Euros.

Bet Builder - Ada Hegerberg to score anytime and both teams to score - yes @ 13/5

My next tip comes in the form of a bet builder, but there's a common theme - goals.

Firstly, I'm backing Hegerberg to score anytime after being rested for Norway's final group game against Iceland, and the Lyon striker will be keen to add to her tally after scoring in the 2-1 win over Switzerland on matchday one.

The 30-year-old has struck 50 times across her 93 appearances for Norway, and looks a decent option to score anytime here.

The second part of this bet builder is for both teams to score. Despite winning all of their group games, Norway are yet to keep a clean sheet, with both teams scoring in all three matches.

Their five goals conceded in Group A was the highest of all four group winners and one more than Italy. The Italians haven't struggled offensively either, scoring in all three of their games so far, so this should be a fairly open contest.

Offers

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