THERE’S more Nations League action to come on Saturday and Tom Love (@TomLove_18) is in the hot-seat to shares his thoughts on the best angles of attack.
Norway v Slovenia | Saturday 13th October 2018, 17:00 | Sky Sports
Lars Lagerback has got this Norway team back on track and the Nations League is a presentable opportunity for the Scandinavians to challenge for a place at the Euro 2020 finals. Saturday night has them hosting an out-of-sorts Slovenia side.
The visitors have recently lost to the likes of Belarus, Bulgaria and Cyprus, conceding at least two goals in all of those encounters.
Jan Oblak is the most high-profile player from the Baltic nation but he’s on a six-month sabbatical from the national side. Sampdoria back-up stopper Vid Belec will have to deputise and he’s struggled in his outings thus far.
Norway, on the other hand, have recorded W6-D2-L0 in their last eight on native turf. There’s a real club mentality since the experienced Lagerback took the helm; the Lions boss sets up in a 4-4-2 system where everyone understands their roles and it’s proved fruitful under the ex-Iceland gaffers tutelage.
Josh King is in fine form for Bournemouth and he should lead the line with Crystal Palace frontman Alexander Sorlorth in contention to partner him. Behind them there’s decent options with British-based trio Markus Henriksen, Mohamed Elyounoussi and Stefan Johansen.
Former Southampton centre-half Vergard Forren is likely to stand-in for the suspended Havard Nordveit, although it shouldn’t be a worry though given his decent tally of appearances for the national team.
At 7/10 (Unibet) the home side look a solid play here.
Georgia v Andorra | Saturday 13th October 2018, 17:00 | Sky Sports
This isn’t one of the most attractive games on paper but I’m expecting minnows Andorra to put up a decent fight as they travel to Tbilisi.
There’s been an improvement from the European underdogs in the last few years, who no longer are the complete whipping boys they’ve become to be known as.
Luxembourg are the headline makers but Andorra have also shown an upturn, proving more and more difficult to break down. The tiny country sandwiched between France and Spain have avoided defeat in their last five matches, earning commendable draws at Latvia and Kazakhstan, while also beating Hungary last year.
Andorra will set-up with a 4-5-1 formation here and try keep things tight and compact, something Georgia sometimes struggle to break down.
The Crusaders don’t tend to score many goals but their rock solid backline means that they sometimes only need one goal – think of the hosts as the Poundland version of Atletico Madrid.
The Eastern Europeans have won six of their last seven games with all wins arriving without conceding. Georgia won’t have to worry too much about a major attacking threat from their opponents and so with five of those six victories coming in contests that produced Under 2.5 Goals, that’s where I’m heading.
Boylesports go best price of 31/20 on the hosts winning with fewer than three goals in the game. As I’ve mentioned, it has a track record of landing in Georgia fixtures and I’m expecting a stubborn effort from Andorra before they ultimately come unstuck.
TOPICS European Football Football International Football TipsBest Bets
Norway v Slovenia – Norway to win (7/10 Unibet)
Georgia v Andorra – Georgia to win and Under 2.5 Goals (31/20 Boylesports)
