Having slipped to eighth in the Bundesliga standings, Wolfsburg have no choice but to try and defeat mighty Bayern Munich on Saturday afternoon.

Meanwhile, the Bavarians cannot afford to relax just yet with Borussia Dortmund breathing down their necks, meaning we should see an entertaining affair at Volkswagen Arena.

Wolfsburg had established themselves as one of Germany’s top sides over the last few years, but the current season hasn’t exactly turned out according to plan.

It appears that Kevin De Bruyne continues to be sorely missed, with the Wolves struggling to keep up with their top 4 rivals.

Wolfsburg have now won just one of five league fixtures in the new year, while suffering defeats to Eintracht and Schalke, so it is clear that a massive improvement is needed if they are to put a dent into Bayern’s title bid.

The Wolves produced a very good performance to record a 3-2 away win over Gent in the Champions League, but could then only muster a 1-1 draw with out-of-sorts Hertha.

When upcoming clash against Bayern Munich is concerned, coach Dieter Hecking faces serious selection problems, and he is sweating over the fitness of Koen Casteels and Andre Schurrle.

Meanwhile, Diego Benaglio, Carlos Ascues, Joshua Guilavogui, Bruno Henrique, Daniel Caligiuri, Bas Dost and Sebastian Jung are all out injured.

Probable starting line-up (4-2-3-1): Casteels – Trasch, Naldo, Dante, Rodriguez – Arnold, Gustavo – Vieirinha, Draxler, Schafer – Kruse.

Bayern Munich appear to be cruising towards yet another Bundesliga trophy, although with 12 games to go, the current eight-point advantage offers no guarantees.

The Bavarians also made a big step towards the Champions League quarter-finals with a 2-2 draw in Turin, although they could have done better to guard a two-goal advantage.

Bayern are unbeaten in six games after the winter break, but it appears that defensive crisis has created quite a few problems.

As a result, the Bavarians have conceded in each of last three games, but they were, nonetheless, made 1.44 (4/9) favourites to defeat Wolfsburg.

Pep Guardiola was glad to welcome back Mehdi Benatia from injury, and the Moroccan should start at Volkswagen Arena, while Xabi Alonso will be recalled as well.

Probable starting line-up (4-1-4-1): Neuer – Lahm, Benatia, Alaba, Bernat – Alonso – Robben, Muller, Vidal, Douglas Costa – Lewandowski.