Southampton’s Mohamed Elyounoussi continued his strong start to the 2021/22 season by scoring for Norway on Saturday.
The 27-year-old netted his side’s second goal in their 2-0 win over Latvia in World Cup Qualifying and took himself to five goals in all for club and country in this campaign.
Borussia Dortmund star Erling Haaland had opened the scoring from the penalty spot in the first-half.
Norway sit third in their qualifying group and will be aiming to chase down Turkey and the Netherlands with a win over Gibraltar on Tuesday.
Elyounoussi could be like a new player for club and country
For Saints and Norway, it would be superb if Elyounoussi could continue to contribute at the rate he currently is for the majority of this season.
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He had not scored a competitive goal for Saints since his 2018 arrival but bagged his first three with a hat-trick in the 8-0 League Cup win over Newport County recently.
He was rewarded with a start in the Premier League clash with Newcastle the following weekend and also scored in that game to help Saints take a deserved point home to the South Coast.
Saints are getting to see the form that Elyounoussi has built up in his two years on loan at Celtic. After falling out of favour in Ralph Hasenhuttl’s early days at St Mary’s, 67 appearances in Glasgow yielded 24 goals and 14 assists in a highly-successful time for him and the Hoops.
It seems the Norwegian has some significant momentum behind him now and his four goals for Saints have now been followed up by another one for Norway – the confidence of his finish also helping to show the kind of form he is in right now.
For both his club and international side, this will be like having a new player available and fans will be hoping that they get to see this Elyounoussi for the whole of this campaign.