Haaland took his tally to 42 goals in 43 matches for his country with a 62nd-minute finish, and albeit not his best strike for Norway, it could be one of his most important. 

After a lightning counter-attack, the Manchester City forward saw his initial effort blocked by Maksim Paskotsi, with the ball looping over Karl Hein and onto the crossbar. 

But Haaland was the quickest to react to the loose ball, tucking home on the line for his fourth goal in as many games during Norway's qualifying campaign. 

Stale Solbakken's side has 12 points from its first four games in Group I, six clear of second-placed Israel and nine ahead of Italy, which beat Moldova. 

Meanwhile, at the Opus Arena, four goals in 13 second-half minutes from Croatia saw it romp to a 5-1 victory over Czechia to also maintain its perfect start to qualifying. 

Andrej Kramaric headed Croatia into a 41st-minute lead before Tomas Soucek restored parity just before the hour with a towering header at the back post.

Croatia captain Luka Modric put his team back in front four minutes later from the penalty spot after Ante Budimir had been fouled inside the box by Tomas Holes. 

From then, Zlatko Dalic's side turned on the style as Ivan Perisic propelled Croatia further ahead before Holes gave away another spot-kick, this time for a handball. 

Budimir dispatched the penalty before Kramaric concluded the scoring with a cool finish past Matej Kovar after collecting Modric's clever pass into the area.