Norway manager Lars Lagerback said he is very positive ahead of Thursday's clash against Malta, and said that he is looking forward to this match.

Needless to say the Swede is also expecting the three points at stake from this match ahead of their crucial tie against Sweden in Stockholm on Sunday. He said that there is a great difference between the sides as the rankings show, but he said Norway still has to respect its opponents if it wants to get the desired result.

Lagerback said that against Malta they will most probably have more possession of the ball and will be in control of the game. He also said that it also depends on Malta's tactics which will most probably be a defensive plan.

Lagerback who took over at the helm of Norway in 2017, said that the team made great strides forward but the two draw results against Sweden and Romania hampered their chances of qualifying. He said that they deserved to win both those matches but late goals in both cases denied them victory.

He said that in these next two matches Norway has to grab at least four points to remain in the hunt of at least the second placing behind favourites Spain. Lagerback said that all 23 players in the squad are in good shape and have no injury problems.

Lagerback 71 has managed a number of national teams prior to his current position. He managed the Swedish national team from 1998 until 2009, leading Sweden to five consecutive championships. He resigned as manager in 2009 after Sweden's failure to qualify for the 2010 World Cup. After a short period as manager of Nigeria, he led Iceland to unprecedented success as they qualified for their first finals competition, Euro 2016, and reached the quarter-finals, beating England in the last 16.

Also present for Wednesday's press conference was defender Omar Elabdellaoui who plays in Greece for Olympiacos. Elabdellaoui said that they respect the Malta team which he said is very compact and defends very well.

However Elabdellaoui said that they should control the game and take the points at stake to keep in touch with qualification. He said that the start of the season was very good for him with Olympiacos, having obtained qualification for the Group stages of the UEFA Champions League.