Wolfsburg vs. Hoffenheim preview: Die Wölfe targeting top six
European-chasing Wolfsburg will be hoping to move into the top six when they face Hoffenheim on Saturday.
Wolfsburg
After thrashing Bochum 5-1 and cruising to a 3-0 win over Mainz 05, Wolfsburg were brought back down to earth in their meeting with Borussia Dortmund last weekend, falling to a heavy 6-0 defeat at Signal Iduna Park.
Leverkusen’s defeat to FC Köln ensured that Wolfsburg remain one point adrift of Xabi Alonso’s side, who occupy sixth position. If Wolfsburg are to qualify for European football they will need to finish the campaign with a positive run of results in fixtures against Hoffenheim, Freiburg and Hertha BSC.
With Leverkusen playing Stuttgart on Sunday, Niko Kovac’s side will move into the top six if they can beat Hoffenheim.
After claiming a 2-1 win over Hoffenheim when the two sides met in November, Wolfsburg have the chance to claim a league double over die Kraichgauer for the first time since the 2009-10 season.
Team News
Maxence Lacroix, Paulo Otavio and Lukas Nmecha are all ruled out for the hosts due to injury issues.
Hoffenheim
Hoffenheim bounced back from a three-game winless run to record a 3-1 home win over Eintracht Frankfurt last weekend. First-half strikes from Christoph Baumgartner, Andrej Kramarić and Ihlas Bebou effectively wrapped up all three points by the interval. Mario Götze found the net in the second half for Frankfurt, but it did little to dampen Hoffenheim’s spirits, as they held firm to claim a relatively comfortable victory.
With Pellegrino Matarazzo’s side sitting four points clear of the bottom three, they will secure their Bundesliga survival if Schalke 04 and Stuttgart lose, and they claim all three points against Wolfsburg.
Picking up the win may be easier said than done though, with Hoffenheim’s last 10 Bundesliga away games yielding just one victory. They can at least draw inspiration from the fact that they claimed a 2-1 win in their most recent away meeting with Wolfsburg in February 2022.
Team News
The visitors are unable to call upon the injured trio of Pavel Kaderabek, Kevin Vogt and Justin Che. After being shown a straight red card last weekend, Stanley Nsoki will miss Saturday's contest through suspension.
