Kenny hoping for Haaland test as Norway come to Dublin

Stephen Kenny is hoping that the "phenomenon" Erling Haaland is leading the line at the Aviva Stadium next Thursday as Ireland take on Norway in an international friendly fixture.

The Manchester City striker is without doubt the most devastating front man in the world game at the moment and Haaland will travel to Dublin having been named in the Norway squad for the end-of-year encounter.

Haaland has been struggling with a foot injury, however, his club manager, Pep Guardiola confirmed that his bone was not broken and said that he would have his blessing to play for Norway if he feels fine for the upcoming international fixtures.

And that is good news for Ireland manager Kenny who wants to see Norway at their best in Dublin, which will help his side on their continual quest to improve as an international unit.

"He is a phenomenon," said Kenny, speaking at Thursday's press conference. "He is a very exciting player, he has electric speed and incredible capacity to score goals, and physical strength.

"His goal ratio with Dortmund and Norway was really high, and he has followed that up with Man City which isn’t a surprise considering the level of player around him. He seems to just love playing football and it will be interesting to see how he does.

"I'd like them (Norway) to play their best players. We all want to see that, their best players, we all want to see great games of football, we're looking to improve and we're not the finished article."

Kenny, however, was quick to point out that Norway were not a one-man team and expects a quality encounter between the two sides at the Lansdowne Road arena.

"You have other good players like [Martin] Odegaard, a terrific player," added Kenny. "Norway have some really good players.

"From