Wolfsburg vs. Dortmund preview: Can BVB continue improved form?
Dortmund are looking good to start the new year, as they travel to face a struggling Wolfsburg team and their under-fire trainer Niko Kovac.
Wolfsburg
After a decent start to the campaign, Wolfsburg haven’t won in their last six league games and have now fallen to 12th place. This weekend could be the end of Niko Kovac’s tenure unless he's somehow able to get a result.
VfL have really struggled to score and they bought Kevin Behrens in the winter window to hopefully ease that problem and free up Jonas Wind. It hasn’t quite worked out so far, as this very talented team is continuing to move closer and closer to the relegation battle every passing week.
When asked about his job status, Kovac stated, "I'm not from yesterday, I know what is possible in football. - I won't let anything dissuade me either. We don't have the bit of luck that you need in football at the moment."
Team News
Aster Vranckx and Sebastiaan Bornauw were seen back in team training this week. Kovac did confirm that Tiago Tomas will start, but Rogerio will miss out. Koen Casteels is questionable, while Patrick Wimmer and Lukas Nmecha have slight chances to return this weekend.
Dortmund
BVB have started the year off strong and now find themselves back in the Champions League places. Donyell Malen has returned to form and supporters are begging the club to sign Chelsea loanee Ian Maatsen on a permanent deal this summer.
Although Sebastien Haller has returned from his AFCON triumph, Niclas Füllkrug should continue up front and there’s a chance he could be rejoined alongside Jadon Sancho from the off. BVB must be sure to take care of business on Saturday and avoid looking ahead to their Champions League knockout game against PSV on Tuesday.
Edin Terzic commented, "Wolfsburg are not having an easy phase. Nevertheless, they have a very good team. There have been many draws in the last nine games, which suggests that they were close games."
Team News
Felix Nmecha and Karim Adeyemi are out, while Haller is expected to be available once again.