RB Leipzig will be hoping to continue their 100% start to 2022 when they host struggling Wolfsburg at the Red Bull Arena on Sunday.
The hosts have the European places in sight for the first time this season, whilst the visitors remain in a desperate situation at the wrong end of the table despite halting their losing run last weekend.
Match preview
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Since returning from Germany's winter break, things could not have gone much better for Domenico Tedesco's Leipzig side, with back-to-back victories in the Bundesliga being followed up by a comfortable progression to the quarter-finals of the DFB-Pokal.
The 4-1 home win over an impressive Mainz 05 side on the return from the winter break two weeks ago would have meant very little if Die Roten Bullen could not follow that up with victory at relegation-threatened Stuttgart last weekend, but Leipzig came through with a 2-0 success.
Despite the scoreline however, the performance was way below the expected standards of Leipzig once more, as Stuttgart were unfortunate not to take something from the game following their numerous missed opportunities.
Clinical finishing was the difference though, with Andre Silva's penalty and Christopher Nkunku's ninth Bundesliga goal of the season proving enough to seal a long-awaited first away win of the campaign.
Those back-to-back successes to begin the New Year have lifted Sunday's hosts to seventh in the table at the time of writing, with just a small gap of three points now remaining between them and Hoffenheim in the Champions League places.
To continue the momentum being built in the league, Tedesco's men saw off 2.Bundesliga side Hansa Rostock on Wednesday in the DFB-Pokal, thanks to goals from Yussuf Poulsen and Dani Olmo.
As a result, Tedesco has started his reign in charge of the Red Bull outfit with four wins, one draw and just a single defeat, and he will be hoping to continue that impressive start on Sunday, whilst lifting his side to within touching distance of the targeted top four in the process.
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Meanwhile, Wolfsburg's 2022 has begun just as poorly as their 2021 had finished before the winter break.
Seven consecutive defeats in an eight-game winless spell across all competitions was suffered at the end of the calendar year, and this awful form has been extended further by Florian Kohfeldt's men picking up just a single point from their two fixtures against mid-table sides VfL Bochum and Hertha Berlin at the beginning of the New Year.
The failure to score in both encounters as well means that the three-week break has done little to solve Wolfsburg's woes in front of goal, with their goalscoring record now standing at four goals in their past nine matches.
Putting all of this together and it results in an extremely disappointing position of 14th in the Bundesliga table as things stand, and what was supposed to be another top-four finish to go with last season's success has quickly become an unexpected relegation battle instead.
Just three points separate the Wolves from the drop zone heading into matchday 20, meaning that Kohfeldt and his team could find themselves inside the relegation places come Sunday should Augsburg, Arminia Bielefeld and Stuttgart manage to pick up unlikely victories in their respective matches earlier in the weekend.
The 100% start to the campaign back in August and September has been well and truly forgotten about, and with the slump that followed costing summer arrival Mark van Bommel his job, Kohfeldt will be feeling the pressure should he not manage to turn results around quickly in the coming weeks.
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Team News
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The hosts are likely to be without attacking midfielder Dominik Szoboszlai once more on Sunday, with the Hungarian expected to be sidelined until next month due to a hip injury.
With Emil Forsberg also ruled out too, Poulsen is likely to retain his place in attack alongside Silva and Nkunku.
Marcel Halstenberg continues his recovery from a long-term knee injury, whilst Amadou Haidara and Ilaix Moriba remain on international duty at the Africa Cup of Nations.
As for the visitors, William, Paulo Otavio and Xaver Schlager remain on the sidelines for another few months at least due to their long-term knee injuries.
The one bright spark of their poor campaign so far has been Lukas Nmecha, and his six Bundesliga goals this season will be missing for a while as well due to his broken ankle.
Renato Steffen picked up his fifth yellow card of the season in the goalless draw with Hertha last weekend, so the attacking midfielder will miss the trip to Leipzig due to a one-match suspension.
RB Leipzig possible starting lineup:
Gulacsi; Simakan, Orban, Gvardiol; Klostermann, Adams, Kampl, Angelino; Nkunku, Poulsen; Silva
Wolfsburg possible starting lineup:
Casteels; Lacroix, Bornauw, Brooks; Baku, Arnold, Guilavogui, Roussillon; F Nmecha, Lukebakio; Weghorst
We say: RB Leipzig 2-0 Wolfsburg
It is difficult to see past a comfortable home win on Sunday, with Leipzig on the up in recent weeks and the visitors in such dreadful form, and their confidence at rock bottom as a result.
The majority of Leipzig's slip-ups this season have been on their travels, so despite a poor start to the campaign, they have remained strong at home for the large part.
Top tip
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 RB Leipzig win with a probability of 70.76%. A draw had a probability of 17.1% and a win for Wolfsburg had a probability of 12.14%.
The most likely scoreline for a RB Leipzig win was 2-0 with a probability of 10.73%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-1 (9.55%) and 1-0 (8.95%). The likeliest drawn scoreline was 1-1 (7.97%), while for a Wolfsburg win it was 1-2 (3.55%). The actual scoreline of 2-0 was predicted with a 10.7% likelihood. Our team at Sports Mole and our data analysis both correctly predicted a 2-0 win for RB Leipzig in this match.
