Wolfsburg have little to play for heading into the final gameweek of the Bundesliga when they host an in-form Mainz 05 side at the Volkswagen Arena on Saturday.
Ralph Hasenhuttl's men were beaten last time out at Bayern Munich, ending hopes of a continental finish, and the 05ers stunned Champions League finalists Borussia Dortmund to boost survival hopes and leapfrog Union Berlin in the table.
Match preview
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Wolfsburg faced an uphill task trying to end their winless away run at Bayern last weekend, and so it proved as the Wolves were beaten 2-0, continuing their run of never defeating the Bavarians on the road.
The 2-0 loss ended the club's three-match winning sequence, which saw them escape the relegation conversation and have hope of Conference League football next season.
Regardless, Hasenhuttl can be pleased with his side's reaction to avoid the drop, having been 14th when he was appointed on March 17, six points above Mainz and seven clear of second-bottom Koln.
While Wolfsburg have since risen to 12th, seven points separate them from Union Berlin occupying the relegation playoff spot and 10 clear of second-bottom Koln.
After losing his first match at the Volkswagen Arena to Borussia Monchengladbach (3-1), Hasenhuttl hopes his side can claim three consecutive triumphs on home turf for the first time since August-September 2023 to end the campaign positively.
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Mainz may have other ideas, especially as the in-form 05ers are still buoyed by last week's 3-0 win over Dortmund, whose attention is undoubtedly on their Champions League final against Real Madrid.
A Leandro Barreiro strike and two from Jae-Sung Lee in the opening 45 minutes were enough to dispatch Edin Terzic's troops and take Bo Henriksen's men outside the bottom three, leapfrogging Union to send the capital club into the relegation playoff spot.
The Mainz boss, appointed in the middle of February, has done brilliantly to pick up his players after losing 8-1 to Bayern on March 9, with the 05ers staying undefeated in the competition since that beatdown.
That defeat kept Mainz second-bottom on 16 points, three ahead of Darmstadt, but four wins and as many draws have seen the Carnival Club rise to 15th on 32 points.
Henriksen's men pleasingly have their fate in their hands heading into the final day, and avoiding defeat at Wolfsburg this weekend should suffice unless Union Berlin (30 points, -26 goal difference) beat Freiburg by a significant margin and the 05ers (32 points, -14 goal difference) draw.
With the latter almost improbable, a point should keep Mainz in the top flight for another season. Conversely, a loss to Hasenhuttl's men and a win for Union sends the Carnival Club back into the relegation playoff spot.
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While Aster Vranckx (knee) is touch-and-go for the hosts, Yannick Gerhardt (hamstring), Lukas Nmecha (muscular), Dzenan Pejcinovic (metatarsal) and Mattias Svanberg (shoulder) are expected to miss the concluding gameweek of 2023-24.
Jonas Wind fired blanks at Bayern last weekend, but the 11-goal striker seeks to add to his tally on Saturday. Wind has netted in back-to-back home games against Bochum and Darmstadt.
Mainz are not as depleted as their hosts, with Karim Onisiwo (finger) likely to be checked before visiting Wolfsburg on gameweek 34. However, Maxim Leitsch (muscle) is absent through injury.
Jonathan Burkardt may have fired blanks against Dortmund, but the forward's five goals better anyone in the 05ers' eight-game undefeated streak, with Lee (four goals) coming closest. Both seek to do damage at the Volkswagen Arena to extend the sequence to nine without losing.
Wolfsburg possible starting lineup:
Casteels; Lacroix, Bornauw, Jenz; Maehle, Majer, Arnold, Paredes; Baku, Wind, Wimmer
Mainz 05 possible starting lineup:
Zentner; Kohr, Van den Berg, Hanche-Olsen; Caci, Barreiro, Amiri, Mwene; Gruda, Lee; Burkardt
We say: Wolfsburg 1-1 Mainz 05
With Wolfsburg more or less having nothing to play for besides a mid-table finish, Mainz should claim a point at the Volkswagen Arena to extend their undefeated run to nine and secure next year's Bundesliga participation.
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