Augsburg host Wolfsburg in the Bundesliga on Saturday, with the visitors looking to remain in the top three positions in the table with a victory.
Augsburg, meanwhile, are beginning to look nervously over their shoulders having lost four of their last five games.
Match preview
© Reuters
Augsburg had actually taken the lead before losing 3-1 to Borussia Dortmund last weekend, with Andre Hahn firing Heiko Herrlich's side ahead after fabulously buying himself a yard of space by jinking to his right before firing into the top corner.
However, as expected, BVB rallied in response, with Erling Braut Haaland hitting the crossbar from a penalty before Thomas Delaney's flicked header from Marco Reus's in-swinging free kick levelled proceedings heading into the half-time interval.
Raphael Guerreiro's deliciously dinked through-ball played Jadon Sancho in behind, with the England winger displaying his return to form with a coolly-curled finish into the bottom corner, before Haaland raced through in transition before squaring the ball only for Felix Uduokhai to turn the ball into his own net.
Having mustered only five shots on target in their last four league games, Herrlich will be aware his players must perform much better if they are to avoid defeat against the in-form Wolfsburg.
© Reuters
Wolfsburg, meanwhile, won their third match in succession to move into third in the table with an impressive 3-0 victory over the in-form Freiburg.
A spot of pinball in the Freiburg saw the ball fall kindly for John Brooks to fire the Wolves ahead, before Renato Steffen's perfectly weighted through-ball helped Wout Weghorst extend his goalscoring run by displaying a trademark combination of strength and composure, easily holding off his opponent before delicately dinking the ball over Florian Muller.
Weghorst came close to extending his tally on a few occasions after the break before Yannick Gerhardt wrapped up the three points with an emphatic finish with five minutes remaining.
As well as dreaming of competing in the Champions League next season, Wolfsburg fans will also be dreaming of lifting the DFB-Pokal after Weghorst proved to be the difference once again in Wednesday's 1-0 win over Schalke 04.
Augsburg Bundesliga form: WLLLWL
Wolfsburg Bundesliga form: LDDWWW
Wolfsburg form (all competitions): DDWWWW
Team News
© Reuters
Augsburg will be without Alfred Finnbogason, Iago and Raphael Framberger due to injury.
Ruben Vargas is likely to return to the starting XI having returned from injury.
Wolfsburg appear to have absolutely no injury or suspension issues to contend with.
Oliver Glasner is therefore likely to go with the same XI which performed so impressively against Freiburg.
Augsburg possible starting lineup:
Gikiewicz; Oxford, Goueweleeuw, Uduokhai; Caligiuri, Strobl, Gruezo, Pedersen; Hahn, Niederlechner, Vargas
Wolfsburg possible starting lineup:
Casteels; Mbabu, Lacroix, Brooks, Otavio; Schlager, Arnold; Baku, Gerhardt, Steffen; Weghorst
We say: Augsburg 0-2 Wolfsburg
Wolfsburg have not conceded a goal in each of their last three wins, so it is tough to see Augsburg threatening the Wolves on many occasions.
It should be a comfortable afternoon for Glasner's side, with Weghorst likely to continue his hot streak in front of goal.
Top betting tip
Brett Curtis
Data Analysis
Our analysis of all available data, including recent performances and player stats up until an hour before kickoff, suggested the most likely outcome of this match was a Wolfsburg win with a probability of 61.95%. A draw had a probability of 20.8% and a win for Augsburg had a probability of 17.26%.
The most likely scoreline for a Wolfsburg win was 0-2 with a probability of 10.25%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 0-1 (10.09%) and 1-2 (9.95%). The likeliest drawn scoreline was 1-1 (9.79%), while for an Augsburg win it was 1-0 (4.82%). The actual scoreline of 0-2 was predicted with a 10.3% likelihood. Our data analysis correctly predicted a 0-2 win for Wolfsburg in this match.
