Wolfsburg entertain RB Leipzig in the Bundesliga on Saturday with the hosts looking to close the gap in the table between the two sides to three points.
The visitors are looking to bounce back from a hugely disappointing 3-1 loss at home to Borussia Dortmund last weekend.
Match preview
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The Wolves, meanwhile, earned a hugely creditable 2-2 draw at in-form Union Berlin having played with a man disadvantage for almost the entirety of the second half after Maximilian Arnold's professional foul on Taiwo Awoniyi.
Indeed, it was a lively encounter between two of the over-performing sides in the Bundesliga this season, with Renato Steffen's header giving Oliver Glasner's side an early lead, before Sheraldo Becker redeemed his early open goal miss by levelling the proceedings with a powerful strike into the roof of the net.
However, the dynamic of the game changed with Arnold's dismissal, especially after Robert Andrich scored for the fourth home game running from the resulting free kick to provide Union Berlin with a seemingly unassailable one-goal and one-man advantage. Wout Weghorst had other ideas, though, salvaging a point from the penalty spot after Marcus Ingvartsen was adjudged to have handled the ball.
Both league meetings between Wolfsburg and Leipzig ended as draws last season, so with the form his side have displayed so far this season, Glasner may be urging his players to go one better on Saturday.
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With league leaders Bayern Munich losing at Borussia Monchengladbach on Friday evening, Leipzig had the chance to move top of the table when hosting Dortmund.
However, after a disappointingly dour first half, BVB looked to have every inch of their attacking swagger back on the way to a crushing 3-1 victory, with Erling Braut Haaland, Marco Reus and Jadon Sancho putting on a clinic of counter-attacking football.
First Haaland raced through before cutting the ball back to Reus, whose delicate touch guided the ball towards Sancho, with the England winger seemingly taking a leaf from his birth city's bus service; after waiting so long to score his first league goal of the season, the 20-year-old made it two goals in two games with a decisive strike into the bottom corner.
Julian Nagelsmann would have been frustrated with his side's failure to convert possession into clear-cut chances, with Dani Olmo's quick feet buying the Spain midfielder half a yard to unfortunately strike the far post, but Haaland capped one of the team moves of the season before bagging his eighth brace of the season to take the game away from Leipzig despite Alexander Sorloth's encouraging consolation goal.
If they are to win their first ever Bundesliga title, Leipzig can surely not afford to lose any ground on Bayern, even with the Bavarians looking extremely vulnerable defensively at present.
Wolfsburg Bundesliga form: DWLWLD
Wolfsburg form (all competitions): WLWWLD
RB Leipzig Bundesliga form: DWWDWL
RB Leipzig form (all competitions): WWDWWL
Team News
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Wolfsburg will be without Arnold for the visit of Leipzig after the midfielder's dismissal against Union Berlin, with Joshua Guilavogui likely to take his place in central midfield.
Marin Pongracic, Jerome Roussillon and Maxence Lacroix are all injury doubts, meanwhile, leaving the Wolves very short of defensive options. Former Chelsea defender Jeffrey Bruma has not featured in Glasner's plans this season, but may be recalled for a rare start.
Leipzig, meanwhile, have serious injury concerns of their own, with long-term absentees Benjamin Henrichs and Konrad Laimer remaining unavailable.
Marcel Sabitzer, Kevin Kampl, Justin Kluivert, Christopher Nkunku, Ibrahima Konate and recent signing Dominik Szoboszlai are all injury doubts, with Nagelsmann perhaps forced into using more defenders than he would like as a solution to his problems.
Wolfsburg possible starting lineup:
Casteels; Baku, Bruma, Brooks, Otavio; Schlager, Guilavogui; Brekalo, Gerhardt, Steffen; Weghorst
RB Leipzig possible starting lineup:
Gulasci; Orban, Upamecano, Halstenberg; Mukiele, Adams, Haidara, Angelino; Olmo, Forsberg; Sorloth
We say: Wolfsburg 1-1 RB Leipzig
With both league meetings ending as a draw last season and the two sides missing several first-team players through injury, both managers could be forgiven for settling for a point apiece on Saturday.
Leipzig in particular are lacking several of their creative midfielders, so may be forced into playing in a more defensive manner than usual.
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 RB Leipzig win with a probability of 46.08%. A win for Wolfsburg had a probability of 29.71% and a draw had a probability of 24.2%.
The most likely scoreline for a RB Leipzig win was 1-2 with a probability of 9.3%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 0-1 (8.86%) and 0-2 (7.29%). The likeliest Wolfsburg win was 2-1 (7.21%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 1-1 (11.3%). The actual scoreline of 2-2 was predicted with a 5.9% likelihood.
