Sports Mole previews Saturday’s Bundesliga clash between Wolfsburg and Augsburg, including predictions, team news and possible lineups.
In their ninth Bundesliga game of the season, relegation threatened Wolfsburg are set to host Augsburg on Saturday at Volkswagen Arena.
The Wolves are fifth last in 14th place with eight points and drew 0-0 with newly-promoted St Pauli on October 26, while the away team are in 12th place with 10 points from eight league games.
Match preview
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While the hosts will be disappointed that they were unable to defeat St Pauli, the result was just their first clean sheet in their last six top-flight matches, something that boss Ralph Hasenhuttl was keen to highlight after the game.
Hasenhuttl will have been delighted that his side managed to progress to the third round of the DFB-Pokal after beating Borussia Dortmund 1-0 in their last outing on Tuesday, with Jonas Wind scoring a 117th-minute winner.
However, Wolfsburg’s win against Dortmund was just the fourth time that the Wolves have won in their 10 fixtures this term, and Hasenhuttl will be more concerned that his team have lost six, drawn two and won just two of their 10 most recent league games.
The Wolves have scored 10 goals in their last five Bundesliga matches, but they also conceded 13 times in that period.
The home side have also been poor at Volkswagen Arena for some time considering they have lost nine, drawn four and won two of their last 15 home fixtures.
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Meanwhile, Augsburg come into the clash having beaten Schalke 04 3-0 on Tuesday in the second round of the DFB-Pokal and continued their good form having won three of their last four matches.
The visitors beat Borussia Dortmund 2-1 in the league on October 26, a match in which they trailed 1-0 after just four minutes but goals from Alexis Claude in the 25th and 50th minutes ensured victory.
Manager Jess Thorup has said in recent days that he believes his team are growing as a collective and challenged his players to start picking up more points away from home.
Thorup’s side have lost their seven most recent league games on the road by a cumulative score of 24-5.
To their credit, Augsburg have won two of their last three Bundesliga matches, though they have conceded 19 goals this term, the third worst record in the division.
Wolfsburg Bundesliga form:
Wolfsburg form (all competitions):
Augsburg Bundesliga form:
Augsburg form (all competitions):
Team News
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Hasenhuttl will be unable to select a number of players, including attacker Patrick Wimmer due to suspension, as well as goalkeeper Niklas Klinger until early December as a result of an injury.
Striker Bartosz Bialek and forward Kevin Paredes are expected to miss out until late November, while midfielders Aster Vranckx, Mattias Svanberg and defender Rogerio are likely to be unavailable until the middle of November.
Defender Sebastiaan Bornauw is also a doubt, so perhaps Wolfsburg will start with a back four consisting of Kilian Fischer, Denis Vavro, Konstantinos Koulierakis and Joakim Maehle.
As for the visitors, winger Fredrik Jensen is scheduled to make his comeback from injury in December, while attacker Ruben Vargas should be back by late November.
Goalkeeper Daniel Klein has also been ruled out until the middle of November, and though Mads Valentin Pedersen and Reece Oxford are unlikely to be ready for Saturday’s clash, they may return to action in the coming days.
Augsburg could field a defensive line featuring Keven Schlotterbeck, Jeffrey Gouweleeuw and Chrislain Matsima in a back three, while Frank Onyeka, Kristijan Jakic and Elvis Rexhbecaj may start in a midfield three.
Wolfsburg possible starting lineup:
Grabara; Fischer, Vavro, Koulierakis, Maehle; Ozcan, Arnold; Baku, Wind, Tomas; Amoura
Augsburg possible starting lineup:
Labrovic; Schlotterbeck, Gouweleeuw, Matsima; Wolf, Onyeka, Jakic, Rexhbecaj, Giannoulis; Claude-Maurice, Tietz
We say: Wolfsburg 2-2 Augsburg
Although Augsburg have been in better form of late, it is difficult to ignore their poor away record.
However, Wolfsburg have struggled at home for some time, and it would not be surprising if both sides shared points on the weekend.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.