Wolfsburg vs RB Leipzig Prediction: Willi to rise high again

VFL Wolfsburg (12th) will aim to boost their faint European hopes on Friday (19:30, Sky Sports+) when they host RB Leipzig at the Volkswagen Arena. The visitors, meanwhile, are fifth but just a point behind fourth-place Mainz as they seek entry into next season's Uefa Champions League.

Below are my Wolfsburg vs RB Leipzig predictions, supported by all the latest team news and match odds, ahead of this Friday night Bundesliga game.

Team News

Eight players missed Wolfsburg's 1-0 defeat against Union Berlin last week, but head coach Ralph Hasenhuttl, who used to manage Leipzig, has revealed the club's injury crisis is beginning to ease up. He said: "There is good news regarding Denis Vavro and Konstantinos Koulierakis. It's possible that at least one of them will be fit in time for the game.

"Mattias Svanberg (knee) is still unable to train with the team. Lovro Majer (ankle) and Bartosz Białek (knee) have now returned to training and will hopefully be fully integrated next week," he added.

However, Sebastiaan Bornauw (metatarsal) looks set to miss the rest of the season with a metatarsal, and Rogerio (knee) remains out of action.

Football Odds

There's positive news on Mads Roerslev, though, as the Brentford loanee is now fully recovered from an Achilles injury. The Danish full-back was an unused substitute last Sunday and will hope to receive some minutes this week.

Andreas Skov Olsen, Lukas Nmecha and Tiago Tomas are among those pushing for promotions to Hasenhuttl's starting XI.

Zsolt Low, Hasenhuttl's former assistant at Leipzig, lost his first game as head coach against Stuttgart in their DBF-Pokal semi-final earlier this month, but claimed all three points in his first Bundesliga game against Hoffenheim (3-1) last Saturday.

The Hungarian may well decide to stick with a winning formula for Friday's trip to Wolfsburg, which could mean another start for Aston Villa loanee Kosta Nedeljkovic at right-back in the absence of the injured Benjamin Henrichs (Achilles).

Assan Ouedraogo, Antonio Nusa (both knee) and Xaver Schlager (thigh) all miss out for Die Roten Bullen, who were helped last weekend by a red card to Hoffenheim defender Leo Ostigard with the score at 1-1.

Benjamin Sesko got Leipzig up and running under Low in the Bundesliga, and the Slovenian striker is set to start up top again alongside Lois Openda, who has scored just twice in his last 17 appearances.

Wolfsburg vs RB Leipzig Odds

Wolfsburg are winless in their last four matches (D1, L3) and haven't won at home since January 14. Die Wolfe have been made underdogs for this game, with odds of 9/5 implying a 35.7% probability, while Leipzig are 7/5, or a 41.7% chance, to triumph on their travels for the first time since December 7.

The draw is priced at 5/2, both teams to score - which landed in November's reverse league fixture at the Red Bull Arena, won 5-1 by Wolfsburg - at 4/7, and over 2.5 total goals at 4/6.

Sesko (13/8) and Openda (7/4), who have scored 11 and eight Bundesliga goals this season, respectively, head the anytime goalscorer market, followed by eight-goal Wolfsburg marksman Jonas Wind (11/5).

First Goalscorer - Benjamin Sesko (RBL) @ 5/1

Anyone who has read my Leipzig and Slovenia previews this season will know all about this man's penchant for scoring first.

The 21-year-old has scored 24 goals for club and country in 2024/25, and 52.4% (13) have been the game's first goal - 11 for Leipzig and two for Slovenia.

Sesko's most recent opening strike was against this week's opponents, Wolfsburg, in a 1-0 DFB-Pokal quarter-final success on February 26. He's only scored twice since then, but those two goals have come in Low's first two games as interim boss. Neither were the first of the match, but his goal against Hoffenheim last weekend was scored in the 24th minute, highlighting his danger early on.

Wolfsburg have lost their last three games by a 1-0 scoreline and have conceded first in six of their last seven games across all competitions, so 5/1 for Sesko to score first on Friday looks big to me.

Bet Builder - Willi Orban (RBL) 2+ Shots @ 3/1

This selection can be found by navigating to Betfred's 'Bet Builder' tab and clicking on 'Player Stats'.

Leipzig captain Willi Orban has enjoyed the most prolific Bundesliga season of his career, netting five times in just 23 appearances, and one of the Hungarian centre-back's goals came against Wolfsburg last November. It proved to be merely a consolation as Wolfsburg scored four before and one after that 82nd-minute strike, but it's proof of the danger that he could pose Die Wolfe on Friday.

The 32-year-old is averaging 0.9 shots per 90 minutes in both the Bundesliga and Champions League this term, which are impressive numbers for a defender. He shot once last weekend and has recorded two efforts at goal in his last two league games away from home, against Borussia Monchengladbach and SC Freiburg.

Wolfsburg concede, on average, 5.25 corners per game in this season's Bundesliga, the sixth highest average in the division, and with six of Orban's last seven shots coming from such situations, the Hungary international, who has three career goals against Die Wolfe, looks a nice price to shoot twice on Friday.

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