It has been a solid but uninspiring start to 2024 for Wolfsburg, who have drawn all three of their games 1-1. That does represent the first time they’ve begun a calendar year with three straight unbeaten games since 2015, yet surrendering the lead in two of those draws will be disappointing. Adding to their woes is the fact that only rock-bottom Darmstadt have picked up fewer than Wolfsburg’s ten points since the beginning of round seven.
Playing at home isn’t necessarily a massive boost for Wolfsburg either given they have won just one of their six Bundesliga outings here since the beginning of October (D2, L3). Another concerning stat to consider ahead of this one is that a failure to win would see Wolfsburg go five Bundesliga games without a win, which would equal their longest wait for a league win under boss Niko Kovač.
On a five-game winless run themselves, Hoffenheim travel north looking to notch a 15th straight scoring Bundesliga H2H en route to victory. That’s Hoffenheim’s longest ongoing streak of scoring against a single opponent in the Bundesliga, although the fact they’ve failed to win in eight of the last nine league games against any opponent when scoring (D4, L4) will not boost hopes of victory.
The picture is even more bleak when zooming in on Hoffenheim’s away form as they’ve lost five of their last six competitive road trips, with the last three defeats in sequence seeing them concede exactly three goals. Hoffenheim haven’t conceded that many at this venue since 2015, but their H2H away form since then has been lukewarm at best despite them getting on the scoresheet in every single one of those games (W1, D3, L3).
Players to watch: Václav Černý has scored in two of Wolfsburg’s three games during 2024, whilst all four of his strikes this season were his side’s first of the game. Trying to outdo him will be former Wolfsburg man Wout Weghorst, who has seen four of his five strikes since joining Hoffenheim come away from home, although only one contributed to victory (D1, L3).
Hot stat: Both teams have scored in a league-high 17 of Hoffenheim’s 19 matches this season (89%).
