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Norway welcome Slovakia to the Ullevaal Stadion as both sides go head-to-head in a thrilling international friendly tie on Friday.
Both nations will be absent from the upcoming World Cup after finishing third in the group stages of the qualifiers.
Norway’s hopes of making it to the 2022 World Cup were dashed in their final qualification game as they fell to a 2-0 defeat against group winners Netherlands back in November.
Prior to that defeat, they were on a six-game unbeaten run, claiming three wins and three draws in that time.
Norway will now look to quickly move on from that disappointment as they aim to set the pace for their upcoming UEFA Nations League opener in June.
Like Norway, Slovakia failed to pick up a World Cup ticket after finishing third in Group H of the World Cup qualifiers.
Pavel Hapal’s side picked up 14 points from 10 group-stage games, managing three wins, five draws and losing twice.
Slovakia head into Friday’s friendly unbeaten in each of their last three games after picking up two draws and one win from their closing three games of the qualifiers.
Norway vs Slovakia Head-To-Head
This will be the fourth-ever meeting between the two sides. Norway have picked up two wins from their previous three encounters. Slovakia have managed one win, which came in their most recent meeting back in 2017.
Norway Form Guide: W-D-W-D-L
Slovakia Form Guide: W-L-D-D-W
Norway vs Slovakia Team News
Norway
Norway head into the game with a 24-man squad, including Arsenal midfielder Martin Ødegaard, Watford’s Joshua King and most-notably Erling Haaland, who recently made his return from an injury lay-off.
Injured: None
Suspended: None
Slovakia
The visitors will be without the duo of Adam Zreľák and Albert Rusnák, who have withdrawn from the squad through injuries.
Injured: Adam Zreľák, Albert Rusnák
Suspended: None
Norway vs Slovakia Predicted XI
Norway Predicted XI (4-3-3): Ørjan Nyland; Birger Meling, Andreas Hanche-Olsen, Kristoffer Ajer, Marcus Holmgren Pedersen; Morten Thorsby, Mats Møller Dæhli, Martin Ødegaard; Mohamed Elyounoussi, Alexander Sørloth, Erling Haaland
Slovakia Predicted XI (4-2-3-1): Martin Dúbravka; Dávid Hancko, Milan Škriniar, Ľubomír Šatka, Martin Koscelník; Stanislav Lobotka, Tomáš Suslov; Ondrej Duda, Patrik Hrošovský, Lukáš Haraslín; David Strelec
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Norway vs Slovakia Prediction
Off the back of failing to secure a place in the World Cup, both sides will head into this game seeking to pick up a morale-boosting victory. Norway and Slovakia, who are 45th and 46th in the latest FIFA World Rankings, are evenly-matched on paper and we predict the spoils will be shared in an exciting draw.
Prediction: Norway 2-2 Slovakia
