SV Darmstadt 98 - VfL Wolfsburg

The new promoted team from Darmstadt is one of the surprise this Season. They have already one Point more as Paderborn last Season and what allow them to hope to stay away from relegation battle. For this reason they have to collect some Points in the upcoming weeks but it should be not as easy at as least. After having some problems with some of the opponents above all at home to Mainz they changed their style of play back to a none interested one. They are playing very compact and try to allow not much but if they get the ball they are not playing out with some passes, no they are forcing to hit the ball wide and try to get it in the offense zone with their tall attackers. Also one of their main weapons are corners and free kicks where they could score 5 of their 12 goals so far. This is one of the best number in the league at the moment. Not many changes are expected. Back up striker Stoh-Engel is ill and doubtful, Junior Diaz has some problems under the week and is doubtful, also his replacement Holland on this position, if both must pass Stegmayer can be the third one to start then.

We wrote some lines about VfL Wolfsburg one week ago, maybe some of you remember about the „Diesel Gate“ and Sponsoring problems they have now. Nevertheless the team is doing a great job despite these problems. Coach Hecking has found the right mix and balance and they are running from success to success at the moment. After winning to 1899 on the weekend they were able to get the second win in Champions League against PSV Eindhoven 2-0. In this game was seen that they are playing very compact and with a lot of power. They allowed not much in these 90 minutes and were very focused. Up front they have real good players which are all able to make the difference with their creative idea. Both Draxler and Caligiuri support lone striker Dost and a little bit behind playing Kruse very well. This quartet is very dangerous if they have some space and get in the right position. If they can bring some of these things on the pitch against Darmstadt they should be able to get the first away win this Season. Of course it can be that Hecking rotates a bit because with Jung, Klose, Schäfer, Arnold, Vieirinha and Schürrle he has some in back who can be an even alternative to some of the starters. But he would of course not change in form and important players. 

The newcomer did very well so far this Season and surprised in some games but at home they have really some problems. They could win only 1 of the last 12 home games (1-5-6). If giant Wolfsburg with his excellent players is not able to use this, they never get a better opportunity. It speaks all for Wolfsburg and they are very strong against free kicks and corners where they did not concede a single goal this season. This is key against fighting Darmstadt who scored 5 of their 12 goals with this variant. In both of the last games BL and CL showed Wolfsburg their excellent form, so why not using this to beat Darmstadt ......

PICK: VfL Wolfsburg AHC -0,5 @ 1,87 (3 Units / Flat Stake)