Bundesliga Hoffenheim v Wolfsburg Match preview

Date: Saturday 13th September Venue: Rhein-Neckar-Arena Competition: Bundesliga KO: 14:30

Team News

Hoffenheim are without Jin-Su Kim so Andreas Beck will play left back. Kevin Vollands is a doubt so Jiloan Hamad will start otherwise Hoffenheim are unchanged.

The Wolfsburg, Max Arnold and Nicklas Bendtner are pushing for a starting place. Aaron Hunt will play ahead of Vieirinha. Diego Benaglio returns in goal replacing Max Grun.

Match Preview

Hoffenheim thrashed Wolsfburg in this fixture in March 6-2 but the visitors will be looking for revenge on that particular upset.

Wolfsburg have not had the best start to the season losing 2-1 to Bayern Munich on the opening day, they could have stolen a draw but Junior Malanda missed an open goal late on in the game. Dieter Hecking’s side should have got three points against Eintracht Frankfurt in their last game but they had to settled for a point after leading the game twice.

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Hoffenheim have got four points so far and after dominating their game last weekend against Werden Bremen felt they should have joined Bayer Leverkusen at the top of the Bundesliga with six points. Last seasons star player Roberto Firmino is finding the great form that he showed last season. He scored against Bremen and will look to exploit the Wolfsburg defence.

A closely competitive game is expected at the Rhein-Neckar-Arena. Wolfsburg are hungry for their first win and Hoffenheim are looking to continue their good work so far.

Key Stats

Hoffenheim have scored an average of  2.5 goals in their last 12 games against Wolfsburg.

They are undefeated in 10 of their last 11 games at home.

Wolfsburg left back Ricardo Rodriguez has been named the Swiss player of the year for the 2013/14 season.

Possible line ups

Hoffenheim: Baumann; Strobl, Bicakcic, Sule, Beck; Rudy, Polanski; Hamad, Firmino, Elyounoussi; Szalai

Wolfsburg: Benaglio; Jung, Naldo, Knoche, Rodriguez; Gustavo, Guilavogui; Hunt, Arnold, De Bruyne; Olic

Prediction: Hoffenheim 2-1 Wolfsburg