Martin Odegaard will start for Norway in their friendly against Slovakia (Getty)
Norway head coach Stale Solbakken has confirmed both Martin Odegaard and Erling Haaland will start in his side’s friendly against Slovakia on Tuesday evening.
Haaland, who provided Manchester City with a brief injury scare during training last week, played 75 minutes in Norway’s 2-1 defeat to Czech Republic last Friday, while Arsenal captain Odegaard was brought off with four minutes remaining.
Norway host Slovakia in another friendly in Oslo on Tuesday and Solbakken claims Odegaard and Haaland are keen to play in the fixture, despite it being just five days before Manchester City’s Premier League clash at home to Arsenal on Sunday.
When asked about Arsenal and City supporters being desperate to see their players avoid injuries from friendly matches less than a week before such a key Premier League fixture, Solbakken said on Monday: ‘I basically don’t take that into account.
‘As a rule, I don’t take it into account other than common sense. There are five days until that match. I have spoken to both of them. Both are very eager to play the game. I think we should be happy about that.’
Erling Haaland played 75 minutes in Norway’s defeat to Czech Republic last Friday (AFP via Getty)
Solbakken confirmed that he will make changes to his team around the hour mark, with Manchester City winger Oscar Bobb also due to start.
But when asked if substituting Odegaard and Haaland after 60 minutes is part of his plan, Solbakken said: ‘It is not necessarily so.’
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Speaking after his injury scare with Norway last week, Haaland joked that he was warned by City manager Pep Guardiola about returning from international duty with any problems.
‘I feel good and am ready to play the match,’ Haaland said before Norway’s defeat to Czech Republic.
‘I’m feeling fine. I didn’t walk off the training. I don’t know who wrote that. I trained a full training session. [Pep said] ‘if one of you comes back not fresh, I will come after you’.’
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