Wolfsburg vs Köln Prediction, Betting Tips & Preview

Preview

Haydn Cunningham Jan 25, 2016 @ 06:46 pm

Wolfsburg suffered a disappointing defeat on their return from the winter break as despite taking the lead an Alexander Meier hat-trick condemned them to another defeat and they’ve now fell out of the Europa League places and currently sit in 7^th. Thankfully Schalke and Borussia Monchengladbach also suffered defeats which didn’t inflict maximum punishment for Wolfsburg. They have just 26 points after 18 league games which clearly isn’t good enough for a side that set a high benchmark last season and have also impressed in the Champions League this season. It is their away form where they most notably struggle as they have the worst away record in the Bundesliga. They’ll be looking forward to playing in front of their own fans for the first time since December 12 and add to the impressive tally of 20 points from a possible 27 at home in the league.

Koln will be devastated as they crashed to a 3-1 defeat at home to relegation threatened Stuttgart. They took the lead after 19 minutes when leading goal scorer Anthony Modeste scored his 8^thleague goal of the season from the penalty spot but they somehow hit the self-destruct button and ran out eventual losers in a 3-1 score line. It was a relatively even game and it definitely flattered Stuttgart to run out such comfortable winners but they were clinical in front of goal for one of the rare times this season and Koln are relying heavily on Modeste who has scored 8 of the 19 league goals they’ve managed to accumulate all season. 9^th is a reflection of their inconsistency’s this season and sit 5 points off 4^th place Monchengladbach but only 6 points from 16^th placed Werder Bremen.

Wolfsburg boasts an unbeaten run over Koln in their previous 5 meetings with the previous 2 matches ending as draws. Wolfsburg are much more dominant at home against Koln however with 4 victories from the last 5 at the Volkswagen Arena. Neither of these sides are in particularly good form with Koln managing 6 points from 6 league games which is marginally better than Wolfsburg’s 5 points from 6.

The hosts are unlikely to make too many changes from the side that loss to Eintracht Frankfurt as the defence have usually been reliable this season. Bas Dost was missing through injury and Wolfsburg’s top goal scorer is battling valiantly to be fit for the home clash against Koln. Possibly only Anthony Modeste and Marcel Risse can be confident of keeping their places in the starting 11 with the rest in no position to complain if dropped ahead of the visit to Wolfsburg.

Wolfsburg

Stats: W-7 L-6 D-5

Recent Form – LWWWL

Koln

Stats: W-6 L-6 D-6

Recent Form - WWLLL

Head-to-head record:

Possible Line-ups

Wolfsburg (4-2-3-1) – Benaglio, Trasch, Naldo, Dante, Rodriguez, Guilavogui, Gustavo, Veirinha, Draxler, Kruse, Schurrle

Koln (4-2-3-1) – Horn, Zoller, Maroh, Heintz, Hector, Lehmann, Jojic, Risse, Osako, Bittencourt, Modeste

Injury List/Suspended Players

Wolfsburg – Dost (inj), Arnold (inj)

Koln – None

League Positions