We said: Moldova 0-3 Norway
Both nations will enter Saturday's contest in high spirits considering how they ended 2024, but it is Norway who will be regarded as firm favourites to come out on top.
Moldova have somewhat frustrated Norway at times in the past, but that was before the emergence of Norwegian stars including Haaland, who the hosts may have difficulty stopping this time around if he is firing on all cylinders.
Read more.Data Analysis
Our analysis of all available data, including recent performances and player stats up until an hour before kickoff, suggested the most likely outcome of this match was a Norway win with a probability of 37.7%. A win for Moldova had a probability of 35.71% and a draw had a probability of 26.6%.
The most likely scoreline for a Norway win was 0-1 with a probability of 10.02%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 1-2 (8.25%) and 0-2 (6.54%). The likeliest Moldova win was 1-0 (9.7%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 1-1 (12.64%). The actual scoreline of 0-5 was predicted with a 0.2% likelihood. Our team at Sports Mole and our data analysis both correctly predicted that Norway would win this match.