Two of the Bundesliga's most in-form sides go head-to-head on Sunday when Wolfsburg take on Freiburg.
The Wolves currently occupy fourth position in the table, with Freiburg able to go within two points of their forthcoming opponents with a victory.
Match preview
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Wolfsburg's hopes of competing in the Champions League for the first time since reaching the quarter-final in the 2015-16 campaign are well and truly alive after last weekend's 1-0 victory at Bayer Leverkusen saw them climb into a top-four position.
The Wolves survived a couple of early scares when Lucas Alario hit the post with a decent header and Florian Wirtz tamely scuffed the ball into Koen Casteels's arms from close range.
Oliver Glasner's side punished the hosts' profligacy by opening the scoring in the 35th minute, with Renato Steffen's accurate in-swinging cross finding Ridle Baku at the back post. The winger made no mistake by decisively heading past the helpless Lukas Hradecky, with Leverkusen creating nothing of note thereafter.
No side has lost fewer games than Wolfsburg this season, and they now have a golden opportunity to go on a winning run and cement themselves in the top four positions.
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Freiburg recently had one of their own excellent runs by winning five Bundesliga games in a row for the first time in their history, with Christian Streich's side getting back to winning ways with a solid 2-1 victory over Stuttgart last weekend.
Few sides are as dangerous on the road as Stuttgart, and so it proved when Silas Wamangituka fired the visitors ahead in the early exchanges after Daniel Didavi's close range effort had been parried into the winger's path.
However, Freiburg showed their growing belief and spirit by responding in quick-fire fashion, with Ermedin Demirovic's deflected effort and Jeong Woo-yeong's composed finish giving Streich's side the lead at half time.
Wamangituka proved a thorn in Freiburg's side throughout the 90 minutes, earning the visitors a penalty after Janik Haberer tripped him up, but Nicolas Gonzalez's dreadful effort from the spot was comfortably saved by Florian Muller as they held on for another huge victory which keeps them in the hunt for European football.
Wolfsburg Bundesliga form: WLDDWW
Wolfsburg form (all competitions): WLDDWW
Freiburg Bundesliga form: WWWLDW
Freiburg form (all competitions): LWWLDW
Team News
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Wolfsburg appear to have lost Steffen until at least mid-February after the creative winger suffered a muscular injury in the win at Leverkusen.
Daniel Ginczek and Jeffrey Bruma are also unavailable for Glasner's side, with Josip Brekalo likely to come into the XI in place of Steffen.
Freiburg, meanwhile, will travel to Wolfsburg without the services of Roland Sallai, Baptiste Santamaria, Kwon Chang-hoon, Gian-Luca Itter and Mark Flekken due to injury.
Nils Petersen is likely to continue his role as Streich's super sub option, with Lucas Holer also having to settle for a spot on the bench.
Wolfsburg possible starting lineup:
Casteels; Mbabu, Lacroix, Brooks, Otavio; Schlager, Arnold; Baku, Gerhardt, Brekalo; Weghorst
Freiburg possible starting lineup:
Muller; Lienhart, Schlotterbeck, Gulde; Schmid, Haberer, Hofler, Gunter; Jeong, Demirovic, Grifo
We say: Wolfsburg 2-1 Freiburg
Both sides come into this match in excellent form, but Wolfsburg have a greater balance between defence and offence which should help them earn a narrow victory.
As is often the case when it comes to the Wolves, Wout Weghorst will be the key player on the day, with Freiburg unlikely to be able to handle his superb movement and finishing.
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 56.91%. A draw had a probability of 22.4% and a win for Freiburg had a probability of 20.65%.
The most likely scoreline for a Wolfsburg win was 1-0 with a probability of 10.21%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-1 (9.91%) and 2-0 (9.56%). The likeliest drawn scoreline was 1-1 (10.58%), while for a Freiburg win it was 0-1 (5.65%). The actual scoreline of 3-0 was predicted with a 6% likelihood. Our data analysis correctly predicted that Wolfsburg would win this match.
