Although manager Steffen Baumgart is no mechanic, he might need to dip into his toolbox to find a way to get Koln back to winning ways. The head coach claimed “the boys are not machines” after their frustrating 3-0 defeat to Stuttgart last week which came on the back of a resounding victory by the same scoreline against Frankfurt in their previous outing.
Last week’s loss ended a run of three straight clean sheets for the mid-table Billy Goats (W1, D2) and also means they are yet to register back-to-back Bundesliga victories this season. They will be hopeful of a return to form at the RheinEnergieSTADION though, where they have won four of their last seven league outings (D2, L1), scoring at least three goals in each victory.
A further reason for home fans to be confident that their side can get back to winning ways is that visitors Wolfsburg have won just one of their last seven trips to Koln (D3, L3). On top of that, Wolfsburg are enduring their worst run of form since January 2022, having lost four of their last five matches (D1) across all competitions.
Head coach Niko Kovač insists “the only way to stop the negative run is by working hard,” after his side slipped eight points behind sixth-placed Frankfurt in the race for a European qualification place. He will now be demanding a response from the team after a 3-0 defeat to RB Leipzig last time out, which was a second successive game without scoring.
Players to watch: Koln joint-top league marksman Ellyes Skhiri hasn’t lost a game in which he has scored since April 2021 (W7, D2), but has never netted against Wolfsburg in six previous H2H meetings (W2, D1, L3). He will be trying to improve that record against a side who might be looking to Yannick Gerhardt after he scored the winning goal in this fixture last season. Wolfsburg also haven’t lost any of the 15 Bundesliga fixtures in which he has scored (W12, D3)!
Hot stat: Only nine of Wolfsburg 21 Bundesliga matches have seen both teams score, the joint lowest in the division.
