Bundesliga Betting: Wolfsburg vs Borussia Dortmund Preview

The Bundesliga has returned and the first week back did not disappoint at all. Fans of top tier German football were treated to a total 27 goals across the nine fixtures on matchday 26, with Borussia Dortmund and VFL Wolfsburg contributing six together.

Now, the two sides will play each other at the Volkswagen Arena in Wolfsburg, where Dortmund will look to continue to put pressure on the league leaders, Bayern Munich, as Wolfsburg seek to maintain their spot in a Europa League position.

The reverse fixture at the Signal Iduna Park saw Dortmund thrash Oliver Glasner’s side, and after an impressive win in their last match over their derby rivals Schalke, BVB are looking on form to challenge Wolfsburg again.

Here, we look at how both sides fair coming into the match on matchday 27, all the odds, and what fans should look out for.

Wolfsburg come into this fixture as the underdogs as Paddy Power have given them the odds of 10/3 to win and 11/4 for a draw.

Glasner’s men have had a pretty average season so far, winning 10 of the 26 matches they have played, drawing nine and losing seven. Currently however, Die Wolfe are in a good run of form having been unbeaten in their previous seven fixtures with a 2-1 victory against 14th place Augsburg in their last match.

Sitting in sixth place, Wolfsburg are on 39 points – 11 points off of fifth place Leverkusen and just two points ahead of seventh and eighth place, Freiburg and Schalke. It is therefore highly unlikely Wolfsburg will gain automatic qualification for the Europa League this season, and will have to fight for a qualifying place in Europe, from now to the end of the season.

Wout Weghorts has been Die Wolfe’s most important player this season so far, scoring 11 goals to become the club’s top scorer for this campaign. The Dutch international was left out of the squad against Augsburg with no injuries or suspension.

However, his manager will most likely include the Dutch talisman in a fixture as important as Dortmund, playing against a side including Bundesliga veterans Mats Hummels and Lukasz Piszczek and with his back-up forwards only scoring eight across all competitions between them this season.

Another player to watch out for among the Wolfsburg ranks is Switzerland wing-back, Kevin Mbabu. The 25-year-old has proven to be a menacing threat when going forward for Glasner’s side this season, getting himself an assist in his previous game. If Dortmund play 3-4-3 as they have been recently the pacey attacking full-back could prove vital to Die Wolfe counter attacks which could be what will win them points.

Lucien Favre’s side will travel to Wolfsburg as the favourites to win this game, as Paddy Power have rated the odds 4/6 for Dortmund to walk away with the three points.

BVB currently occupy second place in the Bundesliga, four points behind Bayern Munich who are chasing their eighth consecutive league title. Favre’s side have a good opportunity, however, to put a halt to the Bavarian dominance in the league, and will be keen to go into the match between second and third with a win against Wolfsburg

Dortmund have already had an impressive league campaign until now, winning 16 of their 26 matches and scoring 72 goals overall – the second highest in the league.

Four of these goals came against derby rivals Schalke most recently as BVB put in a dominant performance at home, comfortably winning the game 4-0 with a weakened side on paper. Favre was without long-serving clubman, Marco Reus, while choosing to bench the likes of Jadon Sancho and Mario Götze.

Sancho has been one of the league's outstanding players this year, having the most assists in the league with 15 and also managing to score 14 goals, in addition. The young English winger only came on as a substitute in his last match, although it is more than likely we will see Favre utilise the winger more as his fitness improves.

Wolfsburg have conceded the third least amount of goals this season, and Dortmund will surely need to use all their fire power if they are to break them down.

Although, the last fixture between the sides saw Thorgan Hazard, Mario Götze and Raphael Guerreiro all score in a 3-0 victory for BVB, and now Die Wolfen defence will have the problem of Erling Haaland added to their troubles.

The 19-year-old Norwegian added his 10th goal in nine games against Schalke on the weekend and is appearing to have picked up from where he left off with his prolific goal scoring.

Favre will be keen to use the likes of Haaland and Sancho to convincingly beat Wolfsburg and bring his side confidence before their potential league decider against Bayern in the following game week.

By Brad Beecham