Wolfsburg vs. Werder Bremen preview: VfL try to end poor league form
A midweek win over Leipzig could be the jolt Wolfsburg need in order to avoid their 4th straight Bundesliga loss on Matchday 10 against Bremen.
| Niko Kovac. | Photo: Sven Mandel / CC-BY-SA-4.0 |
Wolfsburg
After losses to Stuttgart, Leverkusen, and Augsburg, Wolfsburg surprisingly took down Leipzig in the Pokal midweek. They are badly missing veteran Koen Casteels in goal and have been suffering from defensive lapses.
Jonas Wind continues to be the focal point offensively, but he needs some help if the green company club want to secure a return to European football. Wolfsburg don’t have a very difficult schedule for the rest of the calendar year and need to start getting back to winning ways this weekend.
The American Kevin Paredes said this week, “It would be really important for us to take another step forward with another home win. We need to pool all our strength. We’re playing at our stadium and we really want to win this game.”
Team News
Despite some doubts, it’s expected that Wind, Rogerio, and Maxence Lacroix will be in the squad on Sunday. Casteels is questionable, while Lukas Nmecha, Kilian Fischer, and Patrick Wimmer remain out.
Werder Bremen
After struggling for a couple weeks, Bremen secured a huge three points over Union Berlin on Matchday 9. Ole Werner needs to start consistently picking up points or else his job could be called into question.
It was confirmed on Wednesday that Frank Baumann will leave his position as managing director of sport at the end of the season. Clemens Fritz, who is the head of first-team football, is considered a potential replacement.
Bremen have struggled away from home, having claimed only three points on the road thus far.
Werner commented, "(Wolfsburg) have got a lot of pace in their side and are organized, but they've struggled to stay consistent over 90 minutes. We have to recognise these phases and capitalize on them. - It's tight in the league and every point matters."
Team News
Dawid Kownacki, Christian Groß, Jiri Pavlenka, Naby Keïta, and Nicolai Rapp are all unavailable. Niklas Stark should be in the squad after returning to training this week and Michael Zetterer will again start in goal for the injured Pavlenka.