Wolfsburg – Hannover

Wolfsburg takes on Hannover at VW Arena in an attempt to further secure the second place in Bundesliga, which is now under attack with Gladbach just 4 points behind. Also, the rivalry factor adds extra motivation for both teams to get a result in this Niedersachsen Derby.

Wolfsburg ended a 4 game winless streak with a convincing 4-0 win at Arminia Bielefeld in the DFB Pokal on Wednesday. It was always going to happen, as the recent poor results of Wolfsburg were just a mix of small dip in form, bad luck and injuries to key players like De Bruyne, Schurrle, Dost, Vieirinha or Knoche. With the shock losses to Napoli and Gladbach now behind them, Wolfsburg will try to get back to winning ways in the Bundesliga – and meet the perfect opponent to help them do so.

The visitors have been by far the worst Bundesliga side in 2015. They have zero wins in the second part of the season and gained just 5 points in the whole year – falling to the 15th place, only 1 point above the playout position held by Hamburg! Hannover allowed at least a goal in each of the 13 matches played in 2015, which won`t give them too much hope against an all out attacking team like Wolfsburg. Hannover is on the back of a 1-2 home loss to Hoffenheim and in the last away match they were shattered 4-0 by Leverkusen.

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Team news & lineups:

Lopes and Hunt continues to miss out for Wolfsburg, but for the first time in the last month they will have the attacking trio of Schurrle, De Bruyne and Dost healthy and ready to be in the starting lineup – a huge boost (though Schurrle might be kept on the bench, coach’s choice). Hannover is doing much worse with injuries and suspensions, missing Hoffmann, Stindl, Miller, Sobiech, Bittencourt, Pander and Stankevicius – a handicap which will be tough to overcome.

VFL Wolfsburg: Benaglio – Vieirinha, Naldo, Klose, Rodriguez – Arnold, Gustavo – Perisic, De Bruyne, Schurrle (Caligiuri) – Dost

Hannover 96: Zieler – Schmiedebach, Marcelo, Schulz, Albornoz – Sane, Andreasen – Ya Konan, Kiyotake, Prib – Joselu

Hannover has only one thing going for them, the fact that they are desperate for points. Surely the visitors will fight for their lives today, but don’t think for a second that Wolfsburg won’t. The Wolves need to take care of business in order to keep the second place and even more, they could actually secure Champions League football with a win – considering that Leverkusen, 6 points behind on the 4th place, has to play against Bayern this round.

Look for a classic all out attacking performance from the hosts, they should be able to create chances with ease against a team that allowed a goal in each of the 13 matches this year. Hannover’s defense will be their achilles heel, there`s just no way you can come at VW Arena and hope for points if you can’t hold your own at the back. This looks like a matchup made in heaven for Wolfsburg, they have their key players back, are high on morale and should achieve a comfortable result – much like they did in Hannover earlier this season, winning 3-1.

I don’t believe that the derby factor can have an impact, so my tip is Wolfsburg to win with a -1,5 handicap. Prediction: Wolfsburg – Hannover 3-0.

Pick: Wolfsburg -1,5
Odds: 2.17 @ Pinnacle
Stake: 8
Possible profit: 9.36
Event date: 2 May