Competition: German Bundesliga 2016-17
Date: Sunday, 12th February, 14:30 GMT
Stadium: VOLKSWAGEN ARENA
Wolfsburg vs Hoffenheim Preview
Hoffenheim started the young German top flight season with two straight drawn matches. They first settled to a 2-2 draw with newly-promoted squad RB Leipzig in their season opener before being held to a high-scoring 4-4 tie with Mainz in their second game at the Coface Arena last Sunday, as per Yahoo Sports.
The hosts actually scored the first three goals of the contest, at the third, 23rd, and 27th minutes courtesy of a brace from Argentine forward Pablo de Blasis and one from Colombian striker Jhon Cordoba.
Hoffenheim cut the lead down to 3-1 at the 39th with a goal from striker Sandro Wagner, but Mainz scored a fourth goal with two minutes left before halftime via a strike from midfielder Levin Oztunali.
However, manager Julian Nagelsmann’s boys scored three goals in the second half while keeping Mainz scoreless to come back and pull off a dramatic draw. The goals came from a double by striker Mark Uth and a shot from forward Adam Szalai at the 71st, 72nd, and 84th minutes respectively.
Meanwhile, Wolfsburg was held to a goalless draw by Cologne at the Volkswagen Arena last Saturday for their first winless game this term, ESPN reported.
Head coach Dieter Hecking’s squad won over Augsburg, 2-0, during their opening game on the road to stay undefeated after two matches in this season’s campaign.
Die Wölfe is now tied at third place with Cologne in the overall standings as the two clubs have identical records, goal difference, and goals scored in between them.
Hoffenheim is at the 13th spot of the league table as they are one of four teams who are left without a win this season.
Prediction and Predicted Lineup
The predicted result is a 1-0 win for Wolfsburg.
Hoffenheim starting lineup (3-4-1-2 formation): Baumann; Schar, Sule, Bicakcic; Toljan, Polanski, Schwegler, Rupp; Rudy; Kramaric, Wagner
Wolfsburg starting lineup (4-2-3-1 formation): Casteels; Blaszczykowski, Bruma, Knoche, Rodriguez; Gustavo, Gerhardt; Caligiuri, Didavi, Draxler; Gomez