This is a powerful trio. Haaland scored a hat-trick in the final Premier League game and is one of the world’s hottest players, while Nusa and Strand Larsen caused havoc with Jordan in Thursday’s internationals.

Ståle Solbakken replaced only three people in the starting line-up from Jordan’s match and provided a surprise at the back.

18 year old Nusa scored a goal on his debut and became the second youngest goalscorer in the national team. He energized the crowd with his dribbling and scored two more goals. Strand Larsen impressed as Haaland’s replacement in the attacking role and provided one goal and two assists. He was also directly involved in the fourth goal. With Haaland’s return, the Celta striker is deployed on the right wing in the role that the injured Alexander Sørloth usually has in the national team. Strand Larsen played there for the final 20 minutes of Thursday’s match, after Bård Finne came on as striker.

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Kristoffer Ajer and Fredrik Bjørkan get the back position which almost belongs to Julian Ryerson/Marcus Holmgren Pedersen (right) and Birger Meling (left). Ryerson is struggling with a knee injury. Bjørkan was positive against Jordan, while Ajer played at right-back in the second half after being a stopper from the start. The two were among six Norwegian players to score their first national team goals.

Back off

Patrick Berg returned to his role as anchor in midfield after he, like Haaland, was rested against Jordan. Thus, Sander Berge was pushed to the bench.

Stefan Strandberg and Leo Østigård are Norway’s usual stopper duo. With the exception of last September’s match, when Strandberg was sidelined through injury, this is the 10th time in the last 12 games that Solbakken has selected the duo from the start. They also played together in the 2nd half against Jordan. Østigård has also played every minute of Norway’s last 13 international matches.

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Even though there are only three new names in the starting line-up, there are also position changes. Haaland comes on for Ola Solbakken, Berg as mentioned for Berge and Strandberg for Marcus Holmgren Pedersen (as he did in the second half on Thursday).

Osame Sahraoui, who made a positive start to his debut match against Jordan, was not included in the reserve list. He was having trouble with his ankle.

Norway must beat Georgia to keep the chances of a top-two finish in Group A ahead of the October meeting alive. In the event of a draw at Ullevaal, Scotland will be ready for the EC on Tuesday evening. Then Spain would be the only team theoretically likely to get past the group leaders. By dropping another point, Norway will also be so far behind Spain that it will be very unrealistic to catch up.

Norway (4-5-1):

1 Ørjan Nyland – 3 Kristoffer Ajer, 4 Stefan Strandberg, 15 Leo Østigård, 17 Fredrik Bjørkan – 23 Jørgen Strand Larsen, 10 Martin Ødegaard (captain), 6 Patrick Berg, 7 Fredrik Aursnes, 20 Antonio Nusa – 9 Erling Braut Haaland.

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Subs: 12 Mathias Dyngeland, 13 Egil Selvik – 2 Marcus Holmgren Pedersen, 5 Birger Meling, 8 Sander Berge, 11 Ola Solbakken, 14 Julian Ryerson, 16 Hugo Vetlesen, 18 Markus Solbakken, 19 Bård Finne, 21 Emil Breivik, 22 Jesper Daland .

Georgia (5-4-1):

12 Giorgi Mamardashvili – 2 Giorgi Gocholeishvili, 5 Solomon Kverkvelia, 4 Guram Kashia, 3 Aleksandre Kalandadze, 16 Irakli Azarov – 9 Zuriko Davitashvili, 10 Otar Kiteishvili, 14 Giorgi Kochorashvili, 7 Khvicha Kvaratskhelia – 22 Georges Mikoutadze.

Subs: 1 Giorgi Loria, 17 Luka Gugeshashvili – 6 Giorgi Aburjania, 8 Budu Zivzivadze, 11 Saba Lobjanidze, 13 Anzor Mekvabishvili, 15 Saba Sazonov, 18 Vladimer Mamuchashvili, 19 Giorgi Tsitaishvili, 20 Giorgi Chakvetadze, 21 Lasha Dval i.

Referee: Nikola Dabanovic, Montenegro.