Wolfsburg will be looking to regain their form when they host FC Koln in the Bundesliga. Koln has lost all five of its league games in a row to stay in the relegation zone.
Preview (Wolfsburg vs. FC Koln)
Following their winter break, Wolfsburg drew 1-1 with Mainz 05 and Heidenheim. Both times taking an early lead thanks to goals from Vaclav Cerny. Cerny gave their Bundesliga debut opponents the lead after just seven minutes on Saturday. Moritz Jenz’s own goal tied the score at the half. Overall, the match was rather evenly matched. It meant Heidenheim was still one point ahead of the Wolves in the standings. After his squad just missed out on qualifying for Europe on the last day of the previous season, head coach Niko Kovac could be worried that his club is already losing ground to that goal this time around. They are seven points behind Freiburg and Eintracht Frankfurt.
Now that the Bundesliga season is past halfway through, Kovac and his team will be looking to close that deficit with back-to-back winnable home games against Koln and Hoffenheim. However, that is by no means a given given that they have only won one of their last five league games at the Volkswagen Arena. Naturally, Koln are much more concerned now since they lost to Borussia Dortmund 4-0 at home the previous Saturday. They are currently three points outside of safety after suffering their 11th loss of the season.
At RheinEnergieStadion, Donyell Malen gave BVB the lead after just 12 minutes, but Koln was able to hold out before halftime. But just before the hour, Niclas Fullkrug scored from a penalty kick to double his team’s lead. Malen then added another, and Youssoufa Moukoko added a goal in injury time to further compound the damage. For Timo Schultz, who took over as Koln’s manager in the New Year after Stephan Baumgart retired, it is still very early in the game. While Koln suffered a crushing defeat against Dortmund, they did manage 19 shots and five on-target against their Champions League-chasing opponents. His first game in charge ended in a 1-1 draw against Heidenheim.
Team News
Due to injuries, Lukas Nmecha, Patrick Wimmer, and Ridle Baku will not be available for Wolfsburg. It is anticipated that the three will each make a separate comeback to first-team play in the upcoming month. After earning a respectable point away at Heidenheim, who is currently on a roll, Kovac might not feel much need to make any changes against opponents who are struggling to win. Cerny will be looking to score from the right wing for a third goal in three games.
Due to injuries, Koln will be without forwards David Selke, Luca Waldschmidt, and Mark Uth. After fracturing his leg, Waldschmidt will not be able to play for the remainder of the season. Selke and Uth won’t be back for at least a few weeks. Because of this, Schultz started Florian Kainz and Jan Thielmann as withdrawn attackers against Dortmund instead of using a recognized striker. Sargis Adamyan might have to take the lead against Wolfsburg, nevertheless, considering their terrible outcome.
Wolfsburg 1-0 FC Koln
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