Wolfsburg host Borussia Monchengladbach in the Bundesliga on Sunday in a potentially pivotal clash in terms of the race to finish in the Champions League qualification positions.
The Wolves have a six-point advantage over their forthcoming opponents in the table, so a fifth successive league win for Oliver Glasner's side could make that lead unassailable.
Match preview
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Having won each of their last four league matches without conceding a goal, Wolfsburg are looking like prime candidates for finishing in the top four places this season and sealing qualification for the Champions League for the first time since reaching the quarter-final in the 2015-16 season.
Glasner's side started quietly in last weekend's 2-0 win at Augsburg, but the Wolves always possess a deadly bite with Wout Weghorst in attack. The Netherlands striker scored his fifth goal in six games after a devastating counter-attack, with Renato Steffen finding Yannick Gerhardt between the lines, whose clever through-ball found Weghorst to delicately dink the ball over Rafal Gikiewicz.
Gerhardt was provider once again when firing across a peach of a ball across Augsburg's penalty box for Ridle Baku to tap in from close range, but the winger was adjudged to have been narrowly offside. However, Baku was not to be denied, pouncing on a loose ball at the back post to double his side's lead and wrap up another comfortable victory.
Wolfsburg's defensive unit is likely to be tested much more against Gladbach on Sunday than they have been in recent weeks, but given the form of the two sides, Glasner will be confident of extending his side's winning run.
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Indeed, having taken 13 points from five games after the winter break - including impressive victories against Borussia Dortmund and Bayern Munich - Gladbach have since taken just one point from two games against Union Berlin and FC Koln.
Last weekend's 2-1 defeat at home to Koln was a serious sucker punch in terms of Marco Rose's side's hopes of qualifying for the Champions League for a second successive season, but they only had themselves to blame after a tepid performance.
Gladbach's lack of defensive organisation and pressure on the ball was clear from minute one, with slick passing and interplay by Koln helping Elvis Rexhbecaj to far too much space on the edge of the hosts' penalty area, with the attacking midfielder ruthlessly punishing them. Florian Neuhaus's deflected effort levelled the proceedings 13 minutes later, but Koln were surprisingly the stronger side throughout, with Rexhbecaj pouncing on sloppy passing out from the back before Yann Sommer excellently denied Ondrej Duda from making the scoreline even worse.
Rose would certainly have been relieved to witness Elvis leaving the building at full time, but things are unlikely to be any easier at a Wolfsburg side who have not conceded a goal in almost 500 minutes of football in all competitions. However, a positive result will put an entirely different gleam on the season ahead of the forthcoming exciting two-legged Champions League knockout tie against Manchester City.
Wolfsburg Bundesliga form: DDWWWW
Wolfsburg form (all competitions): DWWWWW
Borussia Monchengladbach Bundesliga form: WDWWDL
Borussia Monchengladbach form (all competitions): DWWDWL
Team News
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Wolfsburg appear to have absolutely no injury or suspension concerns ahead of the pivotal clash against Gladbach.
Glasner is unlikely to make any chances to the current winning formula at the club.
Gladbach, meanwhile, will travel to Wolfsburg without Denis Zakaria due to a knee injury.
Like his counterpart, though, Rose appears to have very few injury issues. Having heavily rotated his side for the defeat to Koln, he is almost certain to select what he considers to be his strongest team in what is a must-not-lose encounter on Sunday.
Wolfsburg possible starting lineup:
Casteels; Mbabu, Lacroix, Brooks, Otavio; Schlager, Arnold; Baku, Gerhardt, Steffen; Weghorst
Borussia Monchengladbach possible starting lineup:
Sommer; Lainer, Ginter, Elvedi, Bensebaini; Kramer, Neuhaus; Plea, Stindl, Hofmann; Thuram
We say: Wolfsburg 2-2 Borussia Monchengladbach
We can see a thrilling encounter unfolding in Wolfsburg on Sunday, with the visitors capable of ending Glasner's side's winning run.
While Wolfsburg's winning run has been impressive, their fixture list has been reasonably gentle, while Gladbach are likely to be incredibly focused here.
Top betting tip
Brett Curtis
Data Analysis
Our analysis of all available data, including recent performances and player stats up until an hour before kickoff, suggested the most likely outcome of this match was a Borussia Monchengladbach win with a probability of 39.93%. A win for Wolfsburg had a probability of 35.31% and a draw had a probability of 24.8%.
The most likely scoreline for a Borussia Monchengladbach win was 1-2 with a probability of 8.67%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 0-1 (8.29%) and 0-2 (6.21%). The likeliest Wolfsburg win was 2-1 (8.08%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 1-1 (11.57%). The actual scoreline of 0-0 was predicted with a 5.5% likelihood.
