Northern Ireland boss Michael O'Neill believes his side are primed for the road to Russia following their victory over Norway.
Jamie Ward's strike after 87 seconds was added to by another first-half goal from Conor Washington as Northern Ireland retained Group C's second spot and moved on to 10 points at the World Cup qualification's halfway stage.
Prior to the game, O'Neill said he saw the double-figure points landmark as key to fostering belief that they could claim a play-off berth to reach the finals in 2018, and this win maintained their two-point cushion over the Czech Republic, while extending advantages over Azerbaijan and Norway to three and seven points respectively.
"We're in a great position," O'Neill said.
"With each game you get that level of belief and this was a game that I was apprehensive about - just going against such an experienced coach as Lars Lagerback.
"Norway came with nothing to lose, they had to win the game to keep themselves alive in the group and that made them a very dangerous opponent.
"We took care of the job. We've given ourselves a substantial cushion over Norway.
"We play Azerbaijan now and we can put the distance between us and them to six points and then it starts to look very much like ourselves, the Czech Republic and Germany.
"Once you get to 10 points you start to look at the fixtures that are ahead and start to think of what you may need and we're in that position now.
"We have a difficult game in Baku, but we couldn't go into it in better shape."
