Boosted by their injury-time win over France, Sweden travel to Ullevaal Stadion in great spirits, looking to end the season on a high against neighbours Norway. The hosts have endured a rather poor spell of late and will be put to a difficult test on Tuesday evening.

No World Cup for Norway

Sitting fourth in Group C with only four points to their name, Norway national team have lost all chances of making it into the World Cup final showpiece in Russia. Having just grabbed three points after four qualifying matches, Norway decided to part ways with head coach Per-Mathias Hogmo, but Lars Lagerback’s appointment did not exactly result in a shock treatment national team officials were trying to achieve. The former Sweden and Iceland manager suffered a 2-0 blow in his first game in charge as Northern Ireland quashed Norway’s dreams of making into the World Cup. With only two wins in their last ten matches across all competitions, Norway continue to struggle on the international level, although the final match against respectable Czech Republic side offered slight promise. The Czech side took the lead through a first-half goal by Gebre Selassie, but Norway fought back to earn a morale-boosting point courtesy of Soderlund who successfully converted a second-half penalty. The forthcoming match against Sweden is a chance for Norway to prove positive result against the Czech Republic was not a one-time off and that this team has some promise despite the terrible run of results behind them.

Omar Elabdellaoui and Tore Reginiussen are unavailable through injury, whereas Adama Diomande and Joshua King have not been included in the team.

Sweden’s strong start continues

The Swedish national team started the new chapter after the Euro 2016 disappointment. With Zlatan Ibrahimovic announcing his international retirement, the Swedes started a new era and ten matches after the European Championship in France it is fair to say Sweden has made the significant improvement. Janne Andersson’s men won seven of those ten matches in all competitions and managed to pluck 13 points from their first 6 World Cup qualifiers, which is more than a respectable result. Having been pitted against the likes of France, Netherlands and Bulgaria in Group A, Sweden has somewhat surprisingly grabbed the leading spot thanks to a morale-boosting 2-1 win against France on Friday. Sweden fell behind at Friends Arena as Olivier Giroud scored a cracking first-half opener, but managed to claw their way back thanks to Durmaz and Ola Toivonen, who took full advantage of Hugo Lloris’s blunder in injury time.

John Guidetti and Andreas Linde are pushing for a starting berth, whereas Marcus Berg, Mikael Lustig, Robin Olsen and Andreas Granqvist have been left out of the Norway clash.

Verdict

Norway welcome in-form Sweden in rather poor shape and look set to suffer another set-back at Ullevaal Stadion. Swedish side will have been reinvigorated with the last-gasp win over France and will be keen to continue their push despite the fact the forthcoming clash bears no competitive significance.

Top pick: Sweden   2.55 (31/20) @Sportingbet

Alternative pick 1: Both teams to score – yes   2.00 (1/1) @Unibet

Alternative pick: Over 2.5 goals   2.25 (5/4) @888sport