Wolves To Clip Eagles Wings In Goal-Heavy Encounter

Many believe Wolfsburg may be Bayern Munich’s main contenders for Bundesliga glory this season following their memorable 2014/15 campaign.

Dieter Hecking’s troops secured only their second ever piece of silverware with the DFB Pokal trophy and finished the season sitting pretty in second.

The Wolves still finished a full 10 points behind the Bavarian powerhouse but having claimed German Super Cup honours against the defending champions earlier this month, Hecking has rallied his divisional rivals, imploring Bundesliga clubs to ‘forget their respect for Bayern’. Wolfsburg and their head coach are certainly talking a good game.

De Bruyne Key To Wolfsburg’s Challenge

Wolfsburg’s success this season will probably depend on the future of inspirational and much-coveted Kevin De Bruyne.

The Belgian playmaker scored 10 goals and laid on a league record 20 assists to comfortably claim the Bundesliga’s Player of the Year award but seems likely to leave the Volkswagen Arena before the end of August. Manchester City appear to be the most obvious destination.

But Hecking, who signed a contract extension in the summer, has brought in talented Max Kruse from Gladbach to give the side a bit more consistency in attacking areas. Bas Dost remains the main man up top but whether the Dutch marksman can recreate his outrageous 2015 form from the off remains to be seen.

If the hosts are to justify their tag as the Bundesliga’s best behind Bayern, it’s imperative the Volkswagen-backed club get their league campaign off and running with three points against Eintracht Frankfurt on Sunday. The Wolves were unbeaten on home soil last time out (W14-D3-L0) and will fancy their chances of making mincemeat out of a Frankfurt side with the worst away record last term (W2-D5-L10).

Eagles Aiming High Under Veh
The Eagles replaced Thomas Schaaf with old favourite Armin Veh over the summer and plenty of fans are cautiously optimistic Frankfurt can improve upon their ninth-placed finish last time out. Incomings have been low key but useful with investment focussed upon improving a defence that leaked a whopping 62 goals.

Veh has previously led the club to fourth but often tends to dramatically over-or-under achieve. Last season’s top goalscorer Alex Meier remains and with newboy
Luc Castaignos, Vaclav Kadlec and Haris Seferovic in tow, the visitors will pose plenty of problems going forward. Only Bayern, Wolfsburg and Leverkusen netted more goals than Frankfurt under Schaaf.

Recommended Bets
It’s no surprise to see the Wolves chalked up at just 4/9 with BoyleSports. Hecking has turned the Volkswagen Arena into a fearsome fortress, winning 24/34 (71%) during his two full seasons at the helm. During the same timeframe, Eintracht have been beaten in 19/34 (56%) on the road.

However, the hosts have rarely looked watertight defensively, keeping only six clean sheets last term and just 10 in the aforementioned 34 outings. Both Teams To Score has been a regular winner across the past two campaigns – 23/34 (68%) of Wolfsburg matches when welcoming Bundesliga rivals have obliged whilst 20/34 (59%) of Frankfurt’s road fixtures have followed suit for BTTS backers.

If we find the average of Wolfsburg’s win rate and Frankfurt’s losing rate (63.5%) as well as the average of the two teams’ Both Teams To Score success rate (63.5%), we should be expecting a 63.5% chance for Wolfsburg to win and Both Teams To Score.

That percentage equates to an 8/13 shot but BoyleSports are allowing us to back it at 8/5 – now that’s a nice dollop of value for Sunday’s showdown.

*Prices correct at time of publication