Mid-table Bundesliga sides Wolfsburg and Werder Bremen are set to face off at Wolfsburg's Volkswagen Arena on Sunday and will hope to distance themselves from the bottom three.
The hosts are five points and five places clear of the automatic relegation zone in 12th place with seven points from six matches and beat VfL Bochum 3-1 last time out on October 5, while the away team are 11th with eight points after six matchweeks and lost 1-0 against Freiburg in their most recent match on October 5.
Match preview
© Imago
Wolfsburg have had a difficult start to the season having already played champions Bayer Leverkusen and 2023-24 runners-up Stuttgart, as well as Bayern Munich and third-placed Eintracht Frankfurt.
The Wolves picked up just one point from those fixtures, though they were only narrowly beaten 3-2 by Bayern, 4-3 by Leverkusen and 2-1 by Frankfurt, highlighting their ability to compete with the best.
During their win against Bochum, Sunday's hosts were perhaps fortunate to have emerged with all three points given they conceded four big chances and produced slightly fewer non-penalty xG than their opponents.
Boss Ralph Hasenhuttl said he was largely pleased with his side's performance, noting that he felt it was better to surrender possession to Bochum due to the intensity of their pressing.
Hasenhuttl's team have scored 13 goals and conceded on 12 occasions, and of the 18 clubs in the top flight, this makes them the division's sixth-best offensive and joint 11th best defensive side.
Wolfsburg have won one, drawn one and lost two of their last four fixtures and have lost three and drawn one of their four most recent home matches in the Bundesliga.
© Imago
Meanwhile, the visitors were defeated last time out against Freiburg after Ritsu Doan scored a 75th-minute winner.
Werder Bremen had 58% possession in that match but conceded three big chances and only produced one themselves.
Manager Ole Werner was critical of his team's performance in the aftermath of their defeat, saying that the Green-Whites were too slow in possession and that they struggled to take advantage of their more promising moments in front of goal.
Werner's side have conceded 10 goals in their last three Bundesliga matches and have failed to score in three of their five most recent games.
Werder Bremen have lost two of their last three league fixtures, although they have won three and drawn two of their last five games on the road in the Bundesliga.
Team News
© Imago
Wolfsburg have numerous injury absentees, including defender Rogerio and goalkeeper Niklas Klinger.
Mattias Svanberg, Lukas Nmecha and Kevin Paredes will miss out, while Aster Vranckx and Mathys Angely are not scheduled to return until the middle of November and late December respectively.
The hosts will also be unable to select attackers Lovro Majer and Bartosz Bialek, and these absences could lead them to select a front two of Mohamed El Amine Amoura and Tiago Tomas.
Werder Bremen also have several absentees, with winger Abdenego Nankishi, midfielder Jens Stage and centre-back Milos Veljkovic expected to be out until November.
Niklas Stark, Mio Backhaus and Justin Njinmah are thought to be nearing a return to action but are likely to be unavailable until late October.
Keke Topp and Olivier Deman are doubts for Sunday's clash, though both should make their comeback in the next few days at the latest.
Wolfsburg possible starting lineup:
Grabara; Vavro, Bornauw, Koulierakis; Baku, Ozcan, Arnold, Kaminski; Wind; Amoura, Tomas
Werder Bremen possible starting lineup:
Zetterer; Malatini, Friedl, Jung; Agu, Lynen, Alvero, Kohn; Weiser, Schmid; Ducksch
We say: Wolfsburg 1-1 Werder Bremen
Considering that the visitors have struggled in front of goal in recent weeks, it is difficult to see them creating many chances.
However, given Wolfsburg's poor home record, it would not be surprising if they failed to take advantage of Werder Bremen's attacking struggles.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Lewis Nolan
