Preview: St Pauli vs. Wolfsburg – prediction, team news, lineups

Both struggling at the wrong end of the Bundesliga standings, St Pauli and Wolfsburg will meet at Millerntor-Stadion on Saturday afternoon.

The hosts still await their first win and first goal on home turf this season, while Die Wolfe have been scoring freely but cannot keep the back door shut.

Match preview

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Since returning to Germany’s top flight in the summer, St Pauli have claimed just one point from three home games, and their overall record of five defeats from the first seven has set an unwanted club record in the Bundesliga.

Following last week’s loss to Borussia Dortmund – in which Eric Smith seemed to have rescued a point by scoring in the 78th minute, before BVB struck again – the Kiezkicker occupy 16th place in the table, three points adrift of safety.

Back-to-back defeats either side of the international break have halted their momentum, having previously earned all of their four points in a two-game spell.

St Pauli now return to Hamburg, facing the prospect of going nine Bundesliga home games without victory – albeit the first few came several years ago – and that would set another negative club record.

Indeed, Alexander Blessin‘s beleaguered side have yet to even score at Millerntor-Stadion this term, so they may want to draw inspiration from past meetings with Wolfsburg: St Pauli have lost just one of 14 encounters in the top two divisions and are unbeaten in four Bundesliga contests.

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Like their hosts, Wolfsburg face a tough DFB-Pokal tie early next week – they must meet Dortmund, while St Pauli tackle RB Leipzig – but their priority will be claiming victory in Hamburg.

Despite going 1-0 up last time out, Die Wolfe were beaten 4-2 by Werder Bremen, conceding three times in a decisive 20-minute spell midway through the second half, meaning they have now dropped a league-high 11 points from winning positions.

A damning disciplinary record has certainly not helped, as after Patrick Wimmer was sent off against Bremen, Wolfsburg have been shown the most yellow cards (23) and the joint-most red cards in the Bundesliga so far – and they will have two key players suspended this weekend.

Having slipped down to 13th place, Ralph Hasenhuttl‘s side can now be caught by St Pauli if they lose on Saturday, when they will hope to stem the tide of goals they are conceding: 16 goals against is Wolfsburg’s worst record at this stage of a top-flight campaign.

However, Die Wolfe have also scored themselves in all of their last eight league fixtures, stretching back to last season, and a tally of 15 goals after seven matchdays equals a club record dating back to 2009, when they were reigning German champions.

St Pauli Bundesliga form:

Wolfsburg Bundesliga form:

Team News

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Wolfsburg will be hampered by a long absence list this week, with several players sidelined by injury being joined by Maximilian Arnold and Patrick Wimmer, who are both suspended.

Since Wimmer signed for the club, Die Wolfe have produced only 0.9 points per Bundesliga game without him, scoring an average of one goal per game; they average 1.4 points and 1.8 goals per game with the Austrian winger in the squad.

Bartosz Bialek (knee), Lovro Majer (ankle), Lukas Nmecha (groin), Kevin Paredes (foot), Rogerio (knee), Mattias Svanberg (ankle) and Belgium midfielder Aster Vranckx (thigh) are all occupying an overcrowded treatment room, meaning Ralph Hasenhuttl must field a makeshift XI.

Meanwhile, St Pauli are still missing a trio of goalkeepers: Soren Ahlers, Sascha Burchert and Ben Alexander Voll, the latter of whom is on the road to recovery from a broken jaw. Bosnia international Nikola Vasilj will start between the posts.

Connor Metcalfe and forwards Elias Saad and Simon Zoller are also unavailable due to injury.

Once again, captain Jackson Irvine should join Robert Wagner in the hosts’ engine room, while Johannes Eggestein leads the line up front.

St Pauli possible starting lineup:
Vasilj; Wahl, Smith, Mets; Saliakas, Wagner, Irvine, Treu; Afolayan, Eggestein, Guilavogui

Wolfsburg possible starting lineup:
Grabara; Vavro, Bornauw, Koulierakis; Baku, Gerhardt, Ozcan, Kaminski; Wind; Tomas, Amoura

We say: St Pauli 1-2 Wolfsburg

Six of Wolfsburg’s seven points have come away from home this season, and they are also one of only four teams to score in every game so far.

By contrast, sub-par St Pauli have fired blanks in more than half of their fixtures, so the visitors should prevail.

For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.

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