Hoffenheim take on Wolfsburg in the Bundesliga on Saturday, with the visitors looking to keep an eighth consecutive clean sheet in the league.

The home team, meanwhile, can play with greater freedom having picked up five points from their last three league games to move away from the relegation zone.

Match preview

Hoffenheim coach Sebastian Hoeness pictured on February 18, 2021 © Reuters

Indeed, despite disappointingly crashing out of the Europa League knockout stage at the first hurdle to Norwegian side Molde, Sebastian Hoeness can at least sleep easy at night almost certainly knowing his side will remain in the Bundesliga for another season.

Last weekend's 1-1 draw at Union Berlin moved Hoffenheim nine points clear of the bottom three, with only a dreadful run of form likely to see them nervously looking over their shoulders once again.

Die Kraichgauer were unfortunate not to win in Berlin, too, with makeshift centre-back Florian Grillitsch's clumsy trip in the penalty area allowing Max Kruse to score from the penalty spot and undo a very good performance from the visitors, which did at least produce a point via Nico Schlotterbeck's own goal.

Hoeness will be hoping that with greater confidence comes greater fortune after what has been a tumultuous campaign. However, his side have it all to do against a Wolfsburg side who are not even conceding goals at present, let alone losing league matches.

Wolfsburg coach Oliver Glasner pictured on February 14, 2021 © Reuters

However, despite an incredible run of form in the Bundesliga taking Wolfsburg to third in the table and six points clear of Borussia Dortmund in fifth place, Oliver Glasner would have been disappointed by his side's 2-0 defeat at RB Leipzig in the DFP-Pokal in midweek.

In a tight encounter, second-half strikes from Yussuf Poulsen and Hwang Hee-chan dumped the Wolves out of the cup, leaving them with only the league to focus on.

That may prove no bad thing, however, with competing in the Champions League for the first time since reaching the quarter-final in the 2015-16 undoubtedly Glasner and his board's priority.

They may need to begin creating more chances again in order to get over the line, though, after a pretty fortunate 2-0 win over struggling Hertha Berlin last weekend. The hosts struggled to create anything of note until Maxence Lacroix's late header wrapped up the three points, having been gifted the opener by Lukas Klunter's own goal.

Hoffenheim Bundesliga form: WLLDWD
Hoffenheim form (all competitions): LDDWLD

Wolfsburg Bundesliga form: WWWDWW
Wolfsburg form (all competitions): WWDWWL

Team News

VfL Wolfsburg's Bote Baku celebrates scoring their first goal with Kevin Mbabu and teammates on January 23, 2021 © Reuters

Hoffenheim's availability crisis shows little sign of easing, with Ishak Belfodil, Kostas Stafylidis, Mijat Gacinovic, Stefan Posch, Havard Nordtveit, Kevin Akpoguma, Dennis Geiger, Ermin Bicakcic and Benjamin Hubner all likely to be ruled out of the visit of Wolfsburg.

Hoeness will be hoping for a more clinical performance from his side, with Andrej Kramaric and Ihlas Bebou a dangerous attacking partnership for any side to deal with.

Wolfsburg, meanwhile, will be missing Marin Pongracic after the defender's injury-time dismissal against Hertha, while Jerome Roussillon is unavailable due to a calf injury.

Glasner's only change in midweek was to bring John Brooks back into the side ahead of Pongracic, so the 46-year-old is likely to go with the same side once again.

Hoffenheim possible starting lineup:
Baumann; Vogt, Grillitsch, Richards; Kaderabek, Rudy, Samassekou, Sessegnon; Baumgartner; Kramaric, Bebou

Wolfsburg possible starting lineup:
Casteels; Mbabu, Lacroix, Brooks, Otavio; Schlager, Arnold; Baku, Gerhardt, Steffen; Weghorst

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We say: Hoffenheim 1-2 Wolfsburg

We can envisage Wolfsburg grinding their way to yet another win, but perhaps at the expense of their remarkable run of clean sheets.

Kramaric and Bebou should cause them problems at times, but likewise Glasner's side may have too much going the other way against a makeshift defence.

Top tip

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Data Analysis

Our analysis of all available data, including recent performances and player stats up until an hour before kickoff, suggested the most likely outcome of this match was a Wolfsburg win with a probability of 38.46%. A win for Hoffenheim had a probability of 37.88% and a draw had a probability of 23.7%.

The most likely scoreline for a Wolfsburg win was 1-2 with a probability of 8.41%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 0-1 (6.81%) and 0-2 (5.37%). The likeliest Hoffenheim win was 2-1 (8.34%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 1-1 (10.65%). The actual scoreline of 2-1 was predicted with an 8.3% likelihood.