Preview: FC Koln vs. Wolfsburg - prediction, team news, lineups

The visitors, meanwhile, recorded a 2-0 victory against newly-promoted Heidenheim.

Match preview

After recording an impressive seventh-placed finish in Steffen Baumgart's debut season at the club, resulting in them qualifying for the Europa Conference League, Koln will be hoping to move back into the top half of the table after dropping down to 11th last time around.

A lengthy injury list contributed to the Billy Goats enduring two winless streaks of five league matches either side of the winter World Cup, although they were never truly involved in the relegation picture, ultimately finishing nine points clear of the bottom three.

Having suffered five relegations down to the second tier since the turn of the century alone, survival is always Koln's primary objective, even if Baumgart will have his sights set on achieving much greater things having held onto his job across the summer months.

His side looked set to claim an excellent draw away to Dortmund in last Saturday's evening kickoff, restricting BVB to just one shot on target until Donyell Malen snatched all three points for his team with only two minutes of normal time remaining.

Koln won just one of their final seven home games at RheinEnergieStadion last season, so they will be desperate to provide their fans with a victory from the outset against Wolfsburg this weekend.

The Wolves will travel to Cologne with plenty of confidence having beaten Heidenheim 2-0 on Saturday afternoon, though, with Niko Kovac's side never looking under any real threat against the Bundesliga's latest debutants.

Jonas Wind came out of the traps with a bluster to score twice inside the opening 27 minutes, with the Wolves happy to soak up their opponents' possession thereafter, restricting them to just one shot on target across the entire encounter.

After falling at the last hurdle in their attempts to qualify for Europe last season, with a shock defeat at home to Hertha Berlin seeing them fall out of the European qualification places altogether on the final day, Kovac will be determined to put things right during his second season at the club.

However, he will be acutely aware that his players will face a much tougher test this weekend in comparison to last, but the fact that they managed to leave Cologne with all three points last season will give them significant belief that they can make it two wins from two.

FC Koln Bundesliga form:

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FC Koln form (all competitions):

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Wolfsburg Bundesliga form:

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Wolfsburg form (all competitions):

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Team News

Just like last season, Koln appear to have a busy treatment room at present, with David Selke, Florian Dietz, Mark Uth, Linton Maina and Jan Thielmann all expected to miss out on Saturday.

Selke was withdrawn after 52 minutes against Dortmund due to a hip issue, meaning that Baumgart is likely to turn to Sargis Adamyan to lead the hosts' line given the amount of absentees which they have in that area of the pitch.

Wolfsburg, meanwhile, will travel without Lukas Nmecha, Kilian Fischer and Felix Lange due to injury, while club captain Maximilian Arnold is unlikely to start having only recently recovered from illness.

Kovac may see no reason to change a winning team after beating Heidenheim, with Wind set to continue in attack in Nmecha's absence after scoring twice on the opening day.

FC Koln possible starting lineup:

Schwabe; Schmitz, Hubers, Chabot, Paqarada; Ljubicic, Martel; Carstensen, Kainz, Waldschmidt; Adamyan

Wolfsburg possible starting lineup:

Casteels; Baku, Lacroix, Zesiger, Maehle; Svanberg, Gerhardt, Majer; Cerny, Wind, Wimmer

We say: FC Koln 1-2 Wolfsburg

This is likely to be a tight match between two relatively evenly-matched teams, but Koln's lack of offensive firepower due to several injury issues could end up costing them.

Despite missing Nmecha due to injury yet again, Wolfsburg retain several technically proficient attacking options, with Wind set to be full of confidence after bagging a brace against Heidenheim. We can envisage a marginal away win.

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