Hoffenheim will look to carry their momentum as they host Wolfsburg in the Bundesliga. The visitors were able to enter the international break with a perfect record after winning both of their first games in the early weeks of the season.
Preview (Hoffenheim vs. Wolfsburg)
Hoffenheim is an exception to this rule; nonetheless, after losing to Freiburg on the opening weekend. They recovered to beat Heidenheim 3-2 in their most recent game. When their newly promoted opponents, who were playing at home in the Bundesliga for the first time in the club’s history, moved into a two-goal lead two minutes before the hour mark through Jan-Niklas Beste and Marvin Pieringer’s goals either side of halftime, Pellegrino Matarazzo’s team was staring down the barrel of two defeats from two games.
Maximilian Beier and Pavel Kaderabek, who both scored three minutes apart, brought the visitors even 10 minutes before the end of regular time. However, Andrej Kramaric’s last-second penalty conversion secured all three points for his team. It opened their league account for the season. They played brilliantly in the last weeks of the previous season to avoid the danger of relegation. Matarazzo will hope that the victory will calm his players’ worries over the coming weeks. They won’t want to be embroiled in another struggle this time around.
Meanwhile, Wolfsburg has recovered from its final-day heartbreak, when a home loss to already-relegated Hertha Berlin saw them completely drop out of the European qualification spots, by accumulating all possible points from their two games so far. The Wolves defeated Heidenheim as expected before defeating FC Koln by a score of 2-1 on Saturday. However, in the absence of the injured Lukas Nmecha, Jonas Wind scored twice to establish a lead. Due to the presence of his fellow forward, Wind’s opportunities have occasionally been limited. Four goals in two starts should guarantee that he gets more playing time in the future.
Team News
Owing to a muscular strain, Dennis Geiger will continue to miss games for Hoffenheim, and Umut Tohumcu will miss games owing to an ankle ligament injury. Despite coming off the bench to score against Heidenheim, Wout Weghorst, who has joined Hoffenheim on loan from Burnley for the season, is unlikely to be replaced by Beier in attack. Weghorst is frantically trying to get his first league goal for Hoffenheim against his previous team. While Lukas Ambros, Kilian Fischer, Felix Lange, and Nmecha will not be traveling with Wolfsburg, club captain Maximilian Arnold made his comeback off the bench against Koln.
Jakub Kaminski and Ridle Baku may also have to be content with having an impact from the bench. Kovac is reluctant to change a winning team. Hoffenheim definitely has plenty of firepower in their attacking unit. Despite their inconsistent start to the season, they will be hopeful of doing far better than they did the previous year. Wolfsburg came close to qualifying for Europe in May. Wind will certainly fancy his chances of scoring for the third game in a row. At the PreZero Arena this weekend, a scoreless draw is possible.
Hoffenheim 2 – 2 Wolfsburg
For more football previews, click here
