Wolfsburg entertain Eintracht Frankfurt in the Bundesliga on Friday with the hosts looking to move into the top four of the table with a victory.
The visitors, meanwhile, are looking to extend their unbeaten run to six league matches after five consecutive draws.
Match preview
© Reuters
Wolfsburg have been flying in recent weeks and remain one of only two unbeaten teams in the Bundesliga. However, Oliver Glasner may have been disappointed by only picking a point in the 2-2 draw at FC Koln last weekend, especially as a victory would have taken his side above Borussia Dortmund into fourth position.
In fairness to Koln, they started the encounter brightly, with Elvis Rexhbecaj stinging Koen Casteels's palms from distance before 18-year-old Jan Thielmann became the Bundesliga's youngest goalscorer since Lukas Podolski in 2003 to open the scoring. Sebastiaan Bornauw upended Maximilian Arnold 30 yards from goal, with the midfielder punishing his opponent by firing the free-kick into the far corner to level proceedings. However, Ondrej Duda restored Koln's lead on the stroke of half time after a clever cutback from Rexhbecaj down the right found the former Norwich City loanee, who buried the ball into the roof of the net.
The second half was a quiet affair, with an isolated moment of individual magic from Renato Steffen laying the ball on a plate for Wout Weghorst to earn Wolfsburg a point. The midfielder jinked inside onto his left foot before putting a peach of a cross into the area for the Dutch striker to head home from six yards out.
After winning their last three home games, though, Glasner will be demanding a return to winning ways against Frankfurt on Friday.
© Reuters
Adi Hutter would have sensed an opportunity at home against Dortmund last weekend, with BVB missing their top goalscorer Erling Braut Haaland through injury until some point in the New Year.
Mats Hummels passed a late fitness test to appear for the visitors, narrowly heading wide in the early exchanges. Frankfurt punished their opponents' profligacy, with Martin Hinteregger's long ball latched onto by Daichi Kamada, whose touch was typically tight and backed up by a calm finish past the advancing Roman Burki.
However, Hutter's side failed to press home their advantage, with Kamada's goal proving to be their only shot on target across the 90 minutes as Dortmund rallied to earn a deserved point. Giovanni Reyna proved to be in inspired form, deceiving Erik Durm with clever footwork before finding Jadon Sancho in the penalty area, but the England winger fired narrowly wide. Roles were reversed after the break with Sancho finding Reyna on the edge of the penalty area, with the American teenager showing his teammate how it is done by smashing past a helpless Kevin Trapp inside the near post.
A point against Dortmund is never a bad result for a side of Frankfurt's standing, but after five consecutive draws Hutter will be hoping for a first league win in over two months at Wolfsburg on Friday night.
Wolfsburg Bundesliga form: WDWWWD
Eintracht Frankfurt Bundesliga form: LDDDDD
Team News
© Reuters
Glasner is set to be without Admir Mehmedi until the New Year, with the Swiss forward suffering from Achilles tendon problems.
Joshua Guilavogui remains out with a torn muscle, so there are unlikely to be any changes from the team which claimed a point in Cologne last weekend.
Amin Younes (unknown), Ragnar Ache (hamstring), Felix Irorere and Jetro Willems (both fitness) are unlikely to travel to Wolfsburg as Hutter searches for a much needed three points.
Striker Bas Dost could return to the starting XI after only being used as a substitute against Dortmund last weekend.
Wolfsburg possible starting lineup:
Casteels; Baku, Lacroix, Brooks, Roussillon; Schlager, Arnold; Brekalo, Philipp, Steffen; Weghorst
Eintracht Frankfurt possible starting lineup:
Trapp; Abraham, Hinteregger, N'Dicka; Durm, Sow, Rode, Kostic; Kamada; Silva, Dost
We say: Wolfsburg 2-2 Eintracht Frankfurt
With these two sides drawing 13 matches in 20 combined Bundesliga matches this season, it would be no surprise to see a share of the points on Friday night.
Both sides possess plenty of firepower, so expect goals in an entertaining encounter.
Top betting 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 Wolfsburg win with a probability of 45.42%. A win for Eintracht Frankfurt had a probability of 29.37% and a draw had a probability of 25.2%.
The most likely scoreline for a Wolfsburg win was 1-0 with a probability of 10.07%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-1 (9.2%) and 2-0 (7.75%). The likeliest Eintracht Frankfurt win was 0-1 (7.78%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 1-1 (11.96%). The actual scoreline of 2-1 was predicted with a 9.2% likelihood. Our data analysis correctly predicted that Wolfsburg would win this match.
