Six places separate Wolfsburg and Union Berlin in the Bundesliga table ahead of Saturday's gameweek 11 match at the Volkswagen Arena.
The capital club could move into the Champions League positions if they win and results elsewhere go in their favour, even if a home team unbeaten in three could thwart those plans.
Match preview
© Imago
After consecutive Bundesliga draws, Wolfsburg went into the pre-international break round keen to return to winning ways, and duly secured a commendable 3-1 win at Heidenheim.
That game will be remembered for an 18-year-old Bence Dardai opening his account for the Wolves to become the club's youngest goalscorer, eclipsing Maximilian Arnold's record, and the 12th-placed side aim to build on that win.
Ralph Hasenhuttl's team have now avoided defeat in four matches in all competitions, including a creditable win over Borussia Dortmund in the DFB Pokal, and seek to improve to five matches without losing.
However, that outcome is contingent on Die Wolfe showing something different in front of their supporters, having secured two points from an available five on home soil.
While it remains to be seen if Hasenhuttl's men end their wait for a home victory, previous Bundesliga matches against Union at the Volkswagen Arena — four wins and a draw — should boost the hosts' confidence heading into Saturday.
© Imago
Even though the capital club sit sixth in the table, the hiatus was opportune for Bo Svensson's side owing to a seeming dip in results before the break.
Since beating promoted Holstein Kiel on October 20, they have failed to win in three Bundesliga matches and one cup match: playing out draws against Eintracht Frankfurt (1-1) and Freiburg (0-0), losing to Bayern Munich (0-3) and suffering a shock Pokal defeat to Arminia Bielefeld (0-2).
Despite notching two points from nine, Leverkusen and Freiburg's failure to create separation means the Iron Ones could end gameweek 11 above Xabi Alonso's side and Julian Schuster's team.
However, they must return to winning ways in the present and ignore previous visits to the Volkswagen Arena to give themselves a positive chance of halting Wolfsburg's four-match unbeaten sequence and rising into the Champions League places.
On the other hand, the compactness of the Bundesliga table means the sixth-placed club could slide into the bottom half if they are beaten and results elsewhere go awry.
Team News
© Imago
Wolfsburg have several injury worries heading into this weekend: Bartosz Bialek (knee), Niklas Klinger (wrist), Lovro Majer (thigh), Kevin Paredes (foot) and Rogerio (knee) are missing, while Jakub Kaminski and Aster Vranckx have muscle complaints.
Jonas Wind and Tiago Tomas, jointly leading the Wolves' goalscoring charts with three goals, and two-goal man Mohamed El Amine Amoura aim to have game-deciding impacts this weekend.
Union's Tom Rothe and Lucas Tousart are touch-and-go due to muscle complaints, but Andrej Ilic, Josip Juranovic and Yannic Stein are anticipated to miss this weekend's match.
Yorbe Vertessen and Robert Skov have fashioned five clear-cut chances combined, and the pair could be useful in unpicking the Wolves.
Wolfsburg possible starting lineup:
Grabara; Fischer, Vavro, Koulierakis; Baku, Dardai, Arnold, Maehle; Wind; Tomas, Amoura
Union Berlin possible starting lineup:
Ronnow; Doekhi, Vogt, Leite; Trimmel, Kemlein, Khedira, Skov; Jeong, Hollerbach, Vertessen
We say: Wolfsburg 1-1 Union Berlin
Despite Wolfsburg historically flourishing in this fixture, their winless run at the Volkswagen Arena and Union conceding a mere five goals on the road (three against Bayern) point to a possible low-scoring affair on Saturday.
Thus, we expect the spoils to be shared in this gameweek 11 encounter.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
