Injured Westfield Matildas forward Emily Gielnik is no stranger to Norwegian football and expects Australia's first Algarve Cup opponents to come out swinging in Portugal.
Gielnik is unavailable for Thursday morning's (AEDT) clash after the Brisbane Roar star was forced to join Caitlin Foord and Kyah Simon in pulling out of the squad.
The 25-year-old, who scored three times at last year's edition, would have made for a unique weapon having enjoyed a successful stint at Norwegian side Avaldsnes IL in 2017.
"I played in Norway last year so I actually know a fair few of the girls and watched a fair few of the games," Gielnik told matildas.footballaustralia.com.au.
"I think we are definitely the better team, but there's no doubt in my mind that they are going to try and throw something at us.
"They know our strengths, but I still think overall we're going to have a strong game against them. Anything happens in football!"
Norway surprisingly suffered an early exit at last year's UEFA Women's Euro tournament and Gielnik expects the world number 14 to seek redemption at the Algarve Cup.
"They had a really disappointing campaign and I think that's blown their confidence a lot," she said.
"[But the Algarve Cup] also could be a positive for them, so maybe they're going to come out stronger and striving.
"We're a very attacking team so it'll be interesting to see what happens on the night."
Australia's other Group A matches are against Portugal and China PR.