Saturday’s late kick-off in the Bundesliga brings together two sides in contrasting form at opposite ends of the table.
Champions League chasers VfB Stuttgart travel to Volkswagen Arena to take on relegation-threatened VfL Wolfsburg, with 22 points between the teams in the standings.
This preview covers all the key stats and trends for both sides, along with a mathematics-based prediction from Forebet’s predictive analytics model.
📸 Preparation for Saturday's clash with VfL Wolfsburg is underway. 💪#VfB | #WOBVfB pic.twitter.com/jnjorxFHne— VfB Stuttgart_int (@VfB_int) February 28, 2024
📸 Preparation for Saturday's clash with VfL Wolfsburg is underway. 💪#VfB | #WOBVfB pic.twitter.com/jnjorxFHne
Let’s start by looking at the hosts, Wolfsburg, who played out a 2-2 draw with Eintracht Frankfurt last time out, throwing away the lead on two occasions.
Remarkably, the Wolves have now drawn six of their previous seven Bundesliga matches, recording four 1-1 stalemates and a couple of 2-2 draws.
To make matters worse for Wolfsburg, they have managed to win just one of their last 11 league encounters, keeping a solitary clean sheet in the process.
As a result, the Wolves have dropped to 13th in the standings – eight points outside the bottom three – with 11 games remaining to save their season.
By contrast, Stuttgart are flying high in third place and currently sit seven points inside the top four thanks to a hugely impressive 2023-24 campaign.
Although Stuttgart were held to a 1-1 draw by FC Koln last time out, they have won four of their previous five Bundesliga games, scoring 14 goals along the way.
When you look at the bigger picture, the Reds have won 15 of their 23 league outings this season, posting the third-best offensive record and the third-best defensive record.
Stuttgart have also remained solid on the road this term, winning six of their last 10 away league games while scoring over 1.5 goals in each of those victories.
Head-to-head: Stuttgart won the reverse fixture 3-1 back in October, ending a run of three matches without a win against Wolfsburg.
Across the past 11 Bundesliga meetings, Wolfsburg have claimed five wins, while Stuttgart have registered four victories.
Team news: Wolfsburg are currently without Brazilian defender Rogerio, who has missed the previous two matches due to a muscle injury.
On the flip side, Stuttgart’s injury list contains Samuele di Benedetto, Dan-Axel Zagadou, Deniz Undav, Alexander Nubel and Nikolas Nartey.
When you couple Wolfsburg’s lengthy winless run with Stuttgart’s impressive push for Champions League football, all the signs point towards an away win.
Forebet predicts that both teams will score at Volkswagen Arena. However, Stuttgart are expected to outscore Wolfsburg on this occasion.