Haaland remains goalless against Kazakhstan's five-man defence in the Nations League

Perhaps English Premier League teams struggling with Erling Haaland should consider the 5-4-1 formation that Kazakhstan used against Norway on Friday.

Kazakhstan's defenders in yellow surrounded Haaland for the entire 90 minutes of a 0-0 draw in the Nations League, holding the striker goalless after his consecutive hat-tricks in the Premier League.

Haaland did not miss the target with any of his four shots during a game in which Norway had 65% possession and took 19 shots, while Kazakhstan had just four.

Haaland has scored seven goals in three Premier League games for Manchester City this season and has not gone goalless in almost a month – since City won the Community Shield against Manchester United on penalties on August 10. However, Haaland scored in the Community Shield penalty shootout.

Haaland was the top scorer with six goals in each of the last two editions of the Nations League. In total, he scored 31 goals in 34 games for Norway.

He is two goals away from equalling Norwegian record holder Jørgen Juve, who scored 33 goals between 1928 and 1937.

Norway plays in League B of the Nations League, in a group with Austria and Slovenia, who played later.

France also hosted Italy, Belgium played against Israel in neutral Hungary and Wales faced the quarter-finalists of the 2024 European Championship, Turkey.

In League B, Cyprus defeated Lithuania 1-0 with a first-half goal from Ioannis Pittas.

The European qualifying groups for the 2026 World Cup will be drawn in Zurich in December. The seedings are expected to be based on the FIFA world rankings, which will be updated in November after the conclusion of the Nations League group stage.