The final matchup of Round 9 of the German Bundesliga will take place at Volkswagen Arena in Wolfsburg with a very interesting game between the home squad and visitors from Sinsheim. The Wolves have stringed together four consecutive draws against Bremen and Mainz at home (1:1) and against Munich and Leverkusen on the road (2:2). This time they’ll be searching the first home victory of the year and it looks like they could finally get it as Hoffenheim team is winless in last two weeks and in a slight downfall of form. They are coming off from a 2:2 home draw against FC Augsburg in the league and a 3:1 home win over Turkish side Basaksehir on Thursday in the UEFA Europa League.
The tendency of the Sunday’s matchups being a high-scoring one continued last week too as two games featured six goals in total. Things will probably not be much different this time having in mind the opponents and we’ll bear that in mind while giving out the potential picks so let’s take a closer look.
VFL Wolfsburg vs. TSG Hoffenheim 1899
Three-Way: 1: VFL Wolfsburg +154; X: +272 Draw; TSG Hoffenheim 1899 +191
Spread 0: VFL Wolfsburg -119; TSG Hoffenheim 1899 +114
Total +3: Over +117; Under -123
VFL WOLFSBURG
As mentioned above, the Wolves are riding a six-game winless streak and it’s time that this trend changes. They are also undefeated in last four weeks as they’ve shown some inspirational performances especially on the road against Bayern Munich and Bayer Leverkusen but that final touch is still missing and it’s about time for coach Martin Shmidt to figure it out. Divock Origi and Jakub Blasczykowski scored one each at Bay Arena last week but it wasn’t enough to take a full prey.
The team currently ranks at No. 14 spot in the league table with eight total points earned in eight games and a 1-5-2 record (0-3-1 at home). They score 1.00 and concede 1.38 goals per game (8-11 goal difference) while 62% of their duels had under 2.5 goals in total. On the other side 25% of their games had over 3.5 goals in total while both teams scored in 75% of their home soil matches. They’ve managed to score at least one goal in both halves in only one matchup so far while 25% of showdowns have seen the Wolves conceding at least one goal in both halves. Both teams scored in 62% of the games but no duel had over 2.5 goals in total at half-time. Schmidt prefers currently very popular 4-2-3-1 scheme with Verhaegh, Tissearand, Uduokhai and Gerhardt as the defensive line in front of Casteels while Guilavogui and Camacho operate as defensive midfielders. Blasczykowski, Arnold and Malli take on the middle part of the field while Origi operates as a lone striker up front. Daniel Didavi tops the team in scoring with three goals so far while Divock Origi has two in his account. Along with Paul Verhaegh, Didavi is also the teams’ best assister with two. Passing segment belongs to Felix Uduokhai with 326 and Ignacio Camacho with 283 total passes while goalie Koen Casteels has 97 shots against, 22 saves and one game with a clean sheet at the moment. Most undisciplined players are William with two yellow cards and Paul-Georges Ntep with one red card.
Gian-Luca Itter (thigh) and Christian Trasch (unknown) are listed as day to day while Sebastian Jung’s (ankle) status is yet unknown. Adelino Vierinha (ankle) should be back in few days while Mario Gomez (ankle), John Anthony Brooks (thigh) and Jeffrey Bruma (knee) are all back in training.
TSG HOFFENHEIM 1899
The guests from Sinsheim are coming off from couple of poor results in the league after losing on the road against Freiburg and splitting points at home with FC Augsburg but the confirmation of a solid performance came on Thursday when the Blues defeated Turkish team Basaksehir, 3:1 at Rhein-Neckar Arena thus earning first points in group C of UEFA Europa League competition. Hubner, Amiri and Schulz were scorers against the Turks while Hubner and Uth scored against FC Augsburg last week in the domestic league.
They currently rank at No. 4 spot with 15 points in eight games, one less than third-ranked RB Leipzig and one more than fifth-ranked Monchengladbach. Their current record is 4-3-1 (1-1-1 on the road) and they have a 15-10 goal difference (7-7 away). 100% of their road games had over 3.5 goals in total and 67% of their away matches had over 4.5 goals in total. 25% of the matchups had over 2.5 goals at half-time while both teams scored in 62% of their total duels. The team managed to score in both halves in 50% of their games while they also managed to concede at least one goal in both halves in 25% of the matches. Coach Julian Naggelsman prefers the 3-4-3 scheme with Hubner, Vogt, and Posch in the defense and Zuber, Demirbay, Geiger and Amiri as midfielders. Uth, Wagner, and Kramaric mostly start as two forwards and one striker. Mark Uth tops the team in scoring with five goals recorded while Andrej Kramaric and Sandro Wagner have two each in their accounts. Wagner and Kramaric along with Steven Zuber are also teams’ leading assisters with two each while passing segment belongs to Kevin Vogt and Benjamin Hubner with 447 and 404 total passes. Goalkeeper Oliver Baumann has 118 shots against, 25 saves and three games with clean-sheet so far while the most undisciplined player is Hubner with four yellow cards awarded. No player has yet been sent off.
Adam Szalai (groin), Serge Gnabry (thigh) and Ermin Bicakcic (knee) are all listed as day to day while Lukas Rupp who suffered a hip injury at the beginning of this month is reportedly back in training and will be available for Sunday’s game.
VFL Wolfsburg vs. TSG Hoffenheim 1899 – Match Prediction
Last years’ matchups between these two foes featured least goals in last seven seasons (only three) but I have a feeling that this will not be the case this year. This is the game that has the highest potential to be the most scoring one of the round and over 3 goals in total look like a no-brainer.
Having everything in mind, my best guess when it comes to the final result is a draw but if I had to choose a winner I would lean on home team’s side. No matter the result, this should be a very interesting game to watch and a real soccer fiesta on the last day of the week.
My pick: Over 3 goals (+117)
