Norway vs Latvia

Ullevål Stadion is the venue as Norway take on Baltic minnows Latvia in a must-win World Cup qualifying match-up.

A 2-0 home victory over Montenegro last time out helped Norway keep a two-point deficit on Group G leaders Netherlands, with two games left to play. Therefore, the Scandinavians will be looking to extend their two-game winning H2H run to set up a winner-takes-all encounter next week in Rotterdam. Unbeaten in six World Cup qualifying matches on the trot (W4, D2), the Norwegians are warm favorites here, especially after rediscovering their scoring mojo of late. Stale Solbakken’s men have netted 2+ goals in three of their last four competitive outings, having scored one goal or less in five internationals beforehand. Except for a 3-0 home defeat to Turkey back in March, Norway have scored before half-time in their remaining seven 2022 World Cup qualifiers, highlighting the potential for plenty of early action.

As for Latvia, another underwhelming World Cup qualifying campaign (W1, D2, L5) means their wait for their first World Cup finals appearance as an independent nation goes on. On the bright side, though, the visitors have racked up back-to-back away draws in the ongoing qualifying cycle after falling to a 2-0 defeat to the Netherlands in their opening Group G road trip. However, after scoring just once in their last four World Cup qualifying games, Latvia’s hopes of breaking a four-game winless run in Group G looks to be out of the realm of the imagination. Additionally, the ’11 Wolves’ are winless in their last five international matches on foreign soil (D2, L3), conceding a worrying average of 2.8 per game in that period.