After three successive league defeats at the end of 2019 and the start of 2020, Wolfburg have managed to flip the season on its head and have jumped into 6th place on the table with a string of impressive performances over the last few game weeks. Oliver Glasner’s side are unbeaten in their last 7 Bundesliga games with 4 wins and three draws. That impressive return of 15 points has them holding onto the 6th and final Europa league slot – which incidentally is where they finished last season. They did well last weekend when Daniel Gincek’s dramatic 90th-minute winner secured all three points for them at Augsburg in their first match upon resumption from the break.
This fixture has not been a good one for the Wolves in recent years though having taken only one point from their last nine league meetings against Dortmund, including four home losses in a row. Having said that, they will certainly not make things easy for their opponents as they now try to ward off Freiburg and Schalke who are within two points of them and Hoffenheim are a further two points adrift.
Coach Glasner is expected to make minimal changes to the side that won last weekend. Ginczek who scored match-winner last weekend will drop to the bench with top scorer Wout Weghorst back from suspension to lead the attack. Swiss international Kevin Mbabu is expected to keep his place at right-back with Paulo Otavio also remaining at left-back after the full-backs assisted both Wolfsburg goals in Augsburg. Club captain Josuha Guilavogui and Yannick Gerhardt are still out of action as they not yet fit for a return following injury layoffs.
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Playing without Marco Reus, Axel Witsel, Emre Can and with Jadon Sancho on the bench, Dortmund were still pretty ruthless as they demolished Revier rivals Schalke 4-0 in their first match back from the enforced break last weekend to send a message to league leaders Bayern, who, incidentally they will be facing next week, in what could for all intents and purposes be the title decider. Lucien Favre’s side have now won five Bundesliga matches in a row, scoring 12 goals and conceding just once during that impressive run of results.
They are not just second to Bayern in the league table but also have the second-best attacking force as well having now scored an incredible 72 goals from their 26 games in a season that is most certainly going to go down as one for the ages. Erling Braut Haaland picked up from where he had left scoring the opener last weekend for his 10th goal in 9 Bundesliga games since his arrival from RB Salzburg in January. Dortmund’s other youngsters also came up huge in that Revierderby with Raphael Guerreiro scoring a brace and Thorgan Hazard adding another. Julian Brandt, deputizing for Jadon Sancho, put in a great shift with two assists.
The Englishman is expected to make a return to the starting lineup after shaking off a groin issue. He’s having a fantastic season for Dortmund so far with his 15 assists and 14 goals in the leagues. His pace, ball control and game awareness have drawn the attention of potential suitors in the summer with Manchester United rumoured to be leading the pack. Emre Can is also back in contention after sitting out the Schalke win. Both Mahmoud Dahoud and Thomas Delaney are likely to drop to the bench to allow that pair to return, while long time absentee club captain Marco Reus has in all likelihood joined Dan-Axel Zagadou in being ruled out for the rest of the season.
With Bayern coming up next week, Dortmund would love to gear up for that game with a win here to stay within touching distance of Bayern in this exciting Bundesliga race. They have won 5 straight Bundesliga games and with last weekend’s win, showed their hunger and desire to push Bayern all the way has not dissipated. They have kept Wolfsburg on a leash over the last few years, including winning their last four straight games against them. With some of Dortmund’s key players coming back from injuries, we expect them to get all three points on offer as they cannot afford any slip-ups with just 8 games to go. We are therefore going with a Dortmund win @ 1.78 as our first betting prediction for this fixture.
Wolfsburg meanwhile have been playing well in the league are unbeaten in their last seven games. Dortmund, however, have been tough customers for them and they haven’t sniffed a goal in their last 6 encounters. Having said that, they have scored at least a goal in all but two of their last 15 games at home in all competitions. We expect them to get, at the very least, a consolation goal in this game. Betway betting app have a price of 1.57 for both teams to score and we fancy that for our last tip for this game.
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