Wolfsburg-Hoffenheim is a match of the 20th day of the Bundesliga and is played on Sunday at 3:30pm: TV, likely lineups, predictions.
Clash between two teams that have been floating in mid-table for months now and are trying to figure out whether or not there are margins to be able to re-enter the fight for a place in Europe. Those in front right now are Hoffenheim, eighth and three points ahead of Wolfsburg, 11th. For the Sinsheim club, it is in any case a positive season, especially when compared to last year’s, in which Pellegrino Matarazzo’s men averted relegation danger only in the last few days of the Bundesliga.
After a sensational start – four wins in the first six days – Hoffenheim slowly fell back into the ranks and from November onwards barely won a game, beating Bochum 3-1 in front of their home crowd. In 2024, after the long Christmas break, Matarazzo’s team has yet to collect even a single success: it lost its two away matches with Bayern Munich (3-0) and Freiburg (3-2), while last week it did not go beyond a draw with newly promoted Heidenheim (1-1), pegged back by a goal from Kramaric (on a penalty kick). If the Croatian is now a certainty, Dutch center forward Weghorst, the great former of the challenge with Wolfsburg (59 goals in 118 appearances between 2018 and 2022), is certainly not shining. The former Manchester United man has only partially solved the goal problem, as he has scored only 5 in 15 games.
Wolfsburg does not excite
A vintage Weghorst right now would be good for Wolfsburg, whose offensive numbers (23 goals in 19 games) are not exactly exciting.
It was November the last time the green-and-whites scored more than two goals in the same game. Since then, the team coached by Niko Kovac has only gotten the better of bottom-of-the-table Darmstadt and in the first three days of 2024 has barely scraped together three points, the result of draws with Mainz, Heidenheim and Cologne. Aiming for Europe will inevitably require a few more efforts.
The Prediction
It was Hoffenheim who got the better of them in the first leg (3-1), but it was September and Kramaric and his teammates were going through the best moment of their season. This time Wolfsburg should at least manage to avoid defeat in a match that, as has always been the case in the last seven previous matches, will give at least three total goals.
Wolfsburg-Hoffenheim
likely lineups.
WOLFSBURG (4-2-3-1): Casteels; Mæhle, Lacroix, Jenz, Rogério; Svanberg, Vranckx; Černý, Majer, Paredes; Wind.
HOFFENHEIM (3-4-1-2): Baumann; Kabak, Brooks, Akpoguma; Kadeřábek, Prömel, Stach, Nsoki; Kramarić; Weghorst, Beier.
POSSIBLE RESULT: 2-2
