Wolfsburg vs Hamburg preview

March 22, 2012
By: Frank Beresford

A victory over Hamburg would not only see Wolfsburg remain in the top half of the standings, but it would virtually ensure them Bundesliga survival.

Thorsten Fink’s side, on the other hand, desperately need a win in order to kick-start their campaign, seeing they now sit just two points above the relegation zone.

Following some under-par performances in the first part of the season, Wolfsburg chiefs splashed €30 million on eight new players in January, and they are finally starting to see some results.

Out of the eight players only Petr Jiracek and Ricardo Rodriguez managed to slot right into the starting line-up, whereas others have yet to make a real impact at Volkswagen Arena.

Nonetheless, the Wolves managed to escape from the danger zone with back to back wins over Bayer Leverkusen and Nurnberg, and they are now 2.10 (11/10) with BetVictor to make it three in a row.

Petr Jiracek returns to the starting line-up after recovering from a muscle injury, but Chris, Slobodan Medojevic and Patrick Ochs remain sidelined.

Probable starting line-up (4-2-2-2): Benaglio – Trasch, Russ, Felipe, Rodriguez – Polak, Jiracek – Dejagah, Schafer – Helmes, Mandzukic.

The fallen giants of German football are in a precarious position at the moment and they are in danger of getting relegated to the second division.

Hamburger were comfortably beaten in four of their last five league games, while only sharing spoils with Borussia Moenchengladbach, and it is no wonder they now sit just two points above the bottom three.

All the alarm bells are on after the 3-1 home defeat to Freiburg, meaning that the Red Shorts have no choice but to try and win this game.

That is easier said than done now that Wolfsburg have rediscovered their form, so odds of 3.60 (13/5) offered by Ladbrokes on away win are definitely not worth a shot.

Marcus Berg is set to start after impressing in last two substitute appearances, whereas Dennis Aogo and Heiko Westermann should return to the starting line-up. Paolo Guerrero sits out through suspension.

Probable starting line-up (4-4-2): Drobny – Diekmeier, Mancienne, Westermann, Aogo – Ilicevic, Jarolim, Rincon, Jansen – Petric, Berg.

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  1. The Scout says:

    Should be straight forward enough for Wolfsburg. Eight of their Twelve victories over Hamburg have came at the Volkswagen Arena and with Mario Mandžukić they have a striker in pretty decent form having scored nine times so far this season.

    Wolfsburg look value at 2.10 and if you play the saver bet of both teams to score you should be looking at a nice return 🙂