Hertha vs Wolfsburg Prediction, Betting Tips & Preview

Preview

Haydn Cunningham Feb 17, 2016 @ 05:47 pm

Hertha Berlin haven’t endured the best of starts to 2016 and they were inflicted their first defeat of the year when they travelled to Stuttgart and lost 2-0. As it was their first defeat this year it is compounded by the fact their 3 other Bundesliga games have all been draws. They did progress to the semi-finals of the DFP Pokal with a narrow 3-2 victory over lower league Heidenheim but that came at a cost as top scorer Salomon Kalou sustained an injury in the second half. The injury saw him miss the defeat to Stuttgart which meant his partnership with Vedad Ibisevic was broken and the duo have scored 16 league goals between them this season. They hit Stuttgart at the wrong time as they were unbeaten in 6 prior to facing Hertha and have been transformed under new manager Jurgen Kramny who took over the side when they were in the bottom 2. Ibisevic was denied on a couple of occasions and Stuttgart punished his side with two goals in the second half. 

Dieter Hecking’s men were getting a lot of pressure put on them by their supporters after a run of 7 matches without a victory in the league but they eased some of the pressure with a 2-0 home victory over Ingolstadt. It was the perfect confidence boost they needed as they head to Gent on Wednesday night in the last 16 of the Champions League. It was the clubs worst run in 3 years and they were trailing 2^nd placed Dortmund by 18 points. This time a year ago Wolfsburg had a mammoth 22 point advantage over Dortmund eventually going on to finish runners up to Bayern Munich. Kevin De Bruyne’s sale in the summer has been a massive loss and his ability to create and score goals has been sorely missed. His replacement Julien Draxler opened the scoring against Ingolstadt and it was just his 4^th of the campaign and he was the star man for Wolfsburg in the victory.

If you go by the form guide then Hertha Berlin should seal a victory. Hertha have lost just one league game at home all season in comparison to Wolfsburg who’ve won just one league game all season on the road and have the worst away record in the league. Wolfsburg however have a good record over Hertha having won 6 of the previous 7 meetings. Both sides have scored most of their goals in the final 15 minutes of matches so it could well be decided in the final few minutes between these 2 sides competing for a Champions League position.

Ivory Coast forward Salomon Kalou is likely to be missing for the crucial game as we head into the business end of the season it would appear to be a to bigger risk for Jurgen Kramny to take with Hertha in such a good position. Wolfsburg had 2 key men injured for the Ingolstadt victory with Bas Dost and Joshua Guilavogui out but Maximilian Arnold did return from injury to make the substitutes bench. Diego Benaglio didn’t make the trip against Ingolstadt but the Swiss goalkeeper was largely at fault for Schalke’s first two goals in the 3-0 defeat a fortnight ago and was likely to be dropped by Dieter Hecking in favour of Koen Casteels.

Hertha Berlin

Stats: W-10 L-6 D-5

Recent Form – DDDWL

Wolfsburg

Stats: W-8 L-7 D-6                                            

Recent Form - WLDLL

Head-to-head record:

Possible Line-ups

Hertha Berlin (4-4-1-1) – Jarstein, Pekarik, Langkamp, Brooks, Plattenhardt, Lustenberger, Skjelbred, Haraguchi, Cigerci, Darida, Ibisevic

Wolfsburg (4-2-3-1) – Casteels, Jung, Naldo, Knoche, Schafer, Trasch, Luiz Gustavo, Vieirinha, Draxler, Caligiuri, Kruse

Injury List/Suspended Players

Hertha – Kalou (inj), Beerens (inj), Ronny (inj)

Wolfsburg – Dost (inj), Guilavogui (inj), Benaglio (inj)

League Positions