1899 keeping the summit in their sights

Twice already this season the Wolves have let a commanding lead slip beyond their grasp. It first happened against Mainz 05 when they saw the surprise team turn around a 3 goal deficit to win 3-4 and then again against Bayer 04 Leverkusen losing 2-3 despite being 2-0 up at one point. These two results clearly demonstrate the characteristics of Wolfsburg style: effective going forward and susceptible at the back. So Rangnick thinks it's fairly clear what needs to be done: "We've got to nullify their threats up front, but they struggle when they're on the back foot. We need to attack by keeping them on the turn."

Unsurprisingly with Diego, Edin Dzeko, Josué and Grafite, VfL boast several world class attacking players within their ranks. The problem for Steve McClaren, though, is that his defence is leaking far too many goals. "We have to be dominant in the midfield and most importantly take Dzeko out of the game as much as possible", believes Sejad Salihovic who was confident of 1899's chances ahead of the trip to Wolfsburg.

Eyes on the prize

In Hoffenheim's final match before the winter break it's important that they keep their eyes open with a focus on going forward trying to create more chances than they did against 1. FC Nürnberg. Against the "Club" Gylfi Sigurdsson was often overlloked on the left hand side despite being in a lot of space. "These were our best chances on the counter-attack", stated Rangnick. If one of the players had seen the Icelandic international there is a chance the equalizer would have instead been a consolation goal. That's why Salihovic was right in saying: "Being in sixth we've not been too bad in terms of creating goal scoring chances, but we need to be shooting more often."

Starting spot for Jaissle?

It's likely that the goal scoring qualities of Sigurdsson will once again keep him in the starting line-up. As for Matthias Jaissle there are hopes that he may make a rare start for Ralf Rangnick's side. This is because Rangnick wants to move Luiz Gustavo back into the midfield to deal with Wolfsburg's creativity in the middle of the park. With Isaac Vorsah still out due to suspension there is still a hole in the back four and it looks like Josip Simunic may make his long awaited return from injury to fill in the position. Although it is likely 90 minutes will be too much to ask of the Croatian defender. Tobias Weis and Manuel Gulde are also still missing with niggling injuries still keeping them out of contention.

Stats and facts

Hoffenheim six, Wolfsburg six. This represents the amount of draws both teams have recorded so far this season. It means that they are the draw specialists in the Bundesliga. In the head-to-head statistics the Wolves just have their nose in front. Three of the four Bundesliga encounters have seen Wolfsburg take the spoils. The only Hoffenheim victory came in the very first meeting between the two sides.