Wolfsburg vs Schalke Prediction and Preview – 28/08/15
Bundesliga preview – Wolfsburg vs Schalke prediction
Wolfsburg are definitely without Felipe Lopes and Diego Benaglio due to injury, with Koen Casteels continuing in goal in place of the latter. There is great competition for places in the defensive midfield area, with Maximilian Arnold and Luiz Gustavo being the likely partnership. However, the big loss for Wolfsburg could be Kevin De Bruyne, who seems set on a move to Manchester City.
Schalke are still dealing with a number of injured players, with central defender Benedikt Höwedes being the big miss. Matija Nastasic is also out, meaning Roman Neustädter will be forced to play at the back again and the team is set to be similar to the one which started the previous match against Darmstadt.
Possible Line-ups
Wolfsburg: 4-2-3-1 formation: Casteels; Vierinha, Naldo, Klose, Rodriguez; Arnold, Gustavo; Kruse, Caligiuri, Perisic; Dost
Schalke: 4-4-2 formation: Fahrmann; Aogo, Neustadter, Matip, Caicara; Draxler, Geis, Goretzka, Choupo-Moting; Di Santo, Huntelaar
- Wolfsburg have won 4, drawn 4 and lost 2 of their last 10 matches
- Schalke have won 5, drawn 4 and lost 1 of their last 10 matches
- Over the course of their previous 10 matches, Wolfsburg have scored an average of 1.8 goals and conceded an average of 1.2 goals per game
- Over the course of their previous 10 matches, Schalke have scored an average of 1.9 goals and conceded an average of 0.9 goals per game
- There have been over 2.5 goals scored in 5 of Wolfsburg’s previous 10 matches
- There have been over 2.5 goals scored in 5 of Schalke’s previous 10 matches
- Schalke have won 5 of the previous 7 meetings between the teams
Wolfsburg have had a decent start to the season but nothing spectacular and will be aiming to change that on Friday night. A narrow win over Eintracht Frankfurt on the first weekend of the season was followed up with a 1-1 draw at Cologne. Manager Dieter Hecking will want his team to take control of this game from the off and they can’t afford to drop any more points at this stage of the season, if they are to keep pace with Bayern Munich.
Schalke also have 4 points to their name but will be disappointed they are not coming in to this match at the Volkswagen Arena with maximum points. An excellent 3-0 win at Werder Bremen was followed by a 1-1 draw at home with Darmstadt, which has to go down as 2 points dropped. However, considering the injuries to key defenders, Schalke can go in to this match pleased with their start to the season.
Wolfsburg are slight favourites for this game but with the disruption of Kevin De Bruyne’s potential move to Manchester City, Schalke have the opportunity to take something from the match.
We say: Draw at 11/4 with Bet365
What are your predictions?