Preview: Wolfsburg vs. Werder Bremen - prediction, team news, lineups

Wolfsburg host Werder Bremen in the Bundesliga on Friday, with both sides currently occupying top half positions in the table.

A win by two or more goals would see the visitors move above their opponents, while a win for Wolfsburg would see them move level on points with fourth-placed RB Leipzig.

Match preview

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Indeed, Wolfsburg have made an excellent start to the campaign, remaining one of only two unbeaten sides in the league and winning three of their last four matches.

As they so often do, Oliver Glasner 's side started their 2-0 win at Schalke 04 in rapid fashion, with Wout Weghorst firing his side into the lead after just three minutes with a stooping header from a corner. The Dutch striker almost doubled his side's lead five minutes later after the ball fell kindly to him in the penalty area, but he blazed into the side netting. After Renato Steffen fired straight at Frederik Ronnow from close range, Xaver Schlager made no such mistake, firing into the far post after Weghorst's heavy first touch had fallen into the Austrian midfielder's path.

Schalke rallied in the second half, with Goncalo Pacienca 's superb first touch allowing him space to fire straight at Koen Casteels, before Benito Ramen 's superb strike from outside the area had the Wolfsburg goalkeeper beaten all ends up, but unfortunately for the hosts the ball struck the post to leave them marooned to the bottom of the table.

With the football Wolfsburg are currently playing, and how difficult they are proving to beat, Glasner may well have his eye on an unlikely push for securing Champions League football for the first time since the club reached the quarter-finals in the 2015-16 season, when the German side narrowly lost 3-2 on aggregate to eventual champions Real Madrid.

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Having drawn their previous four league matches by the scoreline of 1-1, not many people would have predicted the same scoreline occuring when Werder Bremen travelled to reigning champions Bayern Munich last weekend.

However, that is exactly what happened, and perhaps even more surprisingly it was a fully deserved point for Florian Kohfeldt 's side after an excellent display. In the most played fixture in Bundesliga history, Manuel Neuer superbly denied Bremen on two occasions in the early stages, with Joshua Sargent 's close range effort striking the Germany number one's outstretched leg before Neuer quickly sprawled down to his right to deny Kevin Mohwald from the rebound.

However, after Leanardo Bittencourt blazed wide at the far post, Maximilian Eggestein made no such mistake after Sargent cleverly spun in behind Javi Martinez before squaring for his team-mate to fire into the bottom corner and give the visitors the lead heading into the break.

Milot Rashica raced in behind Bayern's defence once more early in the second half, with Jerome Boateng excellently scrambling back to deny the Kosovo forward getting his shot away, before Kingsley Coman equallised with almost a carbon copy of his winning goal against Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League final. Leon Goretzka 's cross from the right found the France winger at the back post, who duly nodded the ball into the far corner with his head.

Despite Eric Choupo-Moting blazing over from close range after good work down the left by Leroy Sane, Bayern were ultimately relieved to earn a point after Sargent was denied once again in the dying stages by Neuer. If Bremen can play like that every week, their dramatic escape from relegation last season will be but a distant memory, with a win at Wolfsburg this weekend and a top half finish this season potentially on the cards.

Wolfsburg Bundesliga form: DDWDWW

Werder Bremen Bundesliga form: WDDDDD

Team News

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Gisner is likely to be without Joshua Guilavogui (muscle) and Daniel Ginczek (back) for the visit of Bremen, but otherwise appears to have a clean bill of health to choose from.

Maximilian Philipp will be pushing for a start having only appeared as a substitute against Schalke, but otherwise it is likely to be an unchanged side from one which performed so well in that victory.

Kohfeldt remains without top goalscorer Niclas Fullkrug with the calf injury he picked up against Hoffenheim last month, but the forward could return to action next weekend.

Milos Veljkovic is also out with an adductor problem, with changes likely to be minimal after such an impressive performance at Bayern.

Wolfsburg possible starting lineup:

Casteels; Baku, Lacroix, Brooks, Roussillon; Arnold, Schlager; Brekalo, Steffen, Mehmedi; Weghorst

Werder Bremen possible starting lineup:

Pavlenka; Gross, Toprak, Friedl; Gebre Selassie, Eggestein, Mohwald, Augustinsson; Rashica, Bittencourt; Sargent

We say: Wolfsburg 1-1 Werder Bremen

While Wolfsburg are likely to play the more attractive football and have more possession during the match, it would be no surprise to see a sixth consecutive 1-1 draw for the visitors.

The likes of Sargent and Rashica could cause problems for the hosts on the break, with a draw looking the most likely outcome between two fairly evenly matched sides.

Top betting tip

Our expert tipster partners at Sporita.com are predicting under 3.5 goals in this match. Click here to find out what else they are predicting for this game and for more of their tried-and-tested football tips.