Wolfsburg vs Werder Bremen prediction: GERMANY: Bundesliga betting tips on match 2022-08-05 13:30.
Last season saw Wolfsburg record their first bottom-half finish since surviving a relegation playoff in 2017/18. The spectre of another demotion duel lingered far too long for anyone’s liking last campaign, and a purposeful transfer window shows the Wolves’ intent to get back amongst the European qualification berths, with nearly €30m spent on new talent during a frantic July.
A similarly fervent summer last year initially paid dividends, as Wolfsburg began with four straight wins to top the fledgling Bundesliga. They are actually unbeaten in their previous four league season openers (W3, D1), while keeping a clean sheet in the last two of those curtain raisers, giving stalwart goalkeeper Koen Casteels a reputation to uphold here.
With Werder Bremen suffering just two defeats from the start of December, an instant promotion back to the German top-flight (as Bundesliga 2 runners-up) always seemed assured. Understandably though, their transfer activity has contrasted starkly to Wolfsburg’s, with mostly free signings hoping to get the unfancied visitors a dream start to Germany’s elite stage.
Such a result would give Bremen their second victory in three visits to Wolfsburg, as well as a first winning start to a league season for nine years. However, that seems fanciful when remembering the four-loss streak with which Bremen ended the 2020/21 Bundesliga away campaign, despite them getting three first-half shutouts during that despairing run.
Players to watch: At €10m, Jakub Kamiński was Wolfsburg’s marquee arrival of July. He arrived from Lech Poznań with a near-perfect record from goalscoring games in 2021/22 (W7, D1). If anyone can ruin his Bundesliga debut, it might be Bremen’s top scorer from last season, Marvin Ducksch – he got a DFB-Pokal assist in midweek, and has seen six of his last seven goals come after half-time.
Hot streak: Wolfsburg have led by a 1-0 scoreline at half-time in their last four Bundesliga opening day victories.