Football betting tips: Nations League
3pts Norway -1.0 Asian Handicap at 5/6 (Betfair)
1.5pts Erling Haaland to score 2+ goals at 5/2 (Sky Bet)
1pt Haaland to score a hat-trick at 10/1 (Sky Bet)
Two games, two defeats, no goals scored.
It's been a rude awakening for Wales in Nations League A with Craig Bellamy's side continuing a concerning trend against high quality opposition.
His overall record reads W8 D7 L7, scored 34, conceded 27. Against teams who took part at this year's World Cup it is W0 D3 L6, scored six, conceded 16. Wales have also failed to score in six of those nine matches.
Losing 1-0 and 2-0 away to Portugal and Denmark is far from a catastrophe, and they are at least back on home soil, but things don't get any easier.
World Cup quarter-finalists Norway arrive in Cardiff spearheaded by the seemingly unstoppable ERLING HAALAND, who has now scored in seven successive games in all competitions, finding the net 10 times in total.
The bookies are more frightened of him than the Welsh, with no firm willing to offer the Manchester City striker at any bigger than 1/2 to score anytime, with many going as low as 4/11.
He is likely to get chances. Norway may have lost 2-1 at home to Portugal on Sunday but they dominated every aspect of the game, creating 2.52 xG from 22 shots to their opponents' 1.04 from 12.
Stale Solbakken's men started with a 3-2 victory over Denmark and have racked up 3.93 xG across their two fixtures, with Haaland accounting for 1.86 (47%) of that, scoring a BRACE in the win over their Scandinavian neighbours.
The 5/2 for for him to score 2+ GOALS and 10/1 for a HAT-TRICK are both real runners against a team with such a poor record against top teams.
Haaland has three braces in his last seven outings for club and country and has scored multiple goals on a remarkable seven occasions for Norway since last September, taking him to 65 goals in 57 international appearances.
Over the past two matches against teams much better than Wales he has taken 13 shots; it's hard to see how the home side can contain him on Thursday night. Their only option may be to try and keep things tight, and run the risk of failing to score for a third successive match.
It's a tactic Norway's opponents have repeatedly tried and failed over the past two years. Only three of their 22 competitive games since Euro 2024 have had under 2.5 goals - a goalless Nations League draw in Kazakhstan two years ago, 1-0 qualifying win in Estonia a year later and the 1-1 (normal time) draw with England at the World Cup.
NORWAY average a frankly ridiculous 3.14 goals per game in that period, and for that reason I'm prepared to back them at -1.0 on the ASIAN HANDICAP at 5/6 with Betfair.
It pays out if the visitors win by at least two clear goals, with our stake returned should they only win by a one-goal margin. If Wales avoid defeat, then the bet is a loser.
This has won in 10 of Norway's last 14 Nations League and World Cup qualifying matches, with two pushes.
Odds correct at 16:30 BST (29/09/26)
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