FC AUGSBURGIn their first season under former German national team assistant coach Sandro Wagner, FC Augsburg (1-0-4, 16th) stunned SC Freiburg on the opening day of the season, but have dropped four ...
FC AUGSBURG
In their first season under former German national team assistant coach Sandro Wagner, FC Augsburg (1-0-4, 16th) stunned SC Freiburg on the opening day of the season, but have dropped four consecutive matches since. Three of those were one-goal defeats to FC Bayern München (2-3), FC St. Pauli (1-2), and 1. FC Heidenheim 1846 (1-2), and the other was a 1-4 defeat to 1. FSV Mainz 05.
That said, they need three points before the international window, and this could not have been a better time for them to face Wolfsburg at home.
In recent years, Augsburg have got the best of Wolfsburg when in competition; the last time Wolfsburg picked up a win was on 6 November 2021, a 1-0 result on a fourteenth-minute goal from Lukas Nmecha, and the last time Wolfsburg won away at the WWK Arena was on 6 February 2021, a 2-0 score with Wout Weghorst and Ridle Baku the goalscorers.
Last season, with Augsburg under Jess Thorup and Wolfsburg under Ralph Hasenhüttl, the Fuggerstädter picked up a 1-1 draw at the Volkswagen Arena, with Philipp Tietz and Mohamed Amoura the goalscorers. Tietz would score in the fifty-third minute of the following meeting, a 1-0 result that started the losing streak that eventually ended Hasenhüttl's tenure with Die Wölfe.
Augsburg have taken 60 shots, a third of which were on target, in the 2025/26 season - in contrast, Wolfsburg have taken 70 shots and 17 landed in front of the opposing goal, a 9% difference in favour of the Fuggerstädter. This also puts the goals per shot rate for Augsburg at 0.13, compared to 0.09 from Wolfsburg.
Both teams tend to take shots from the edge of the 18-yard box; Augsburg's average is 17.7, whereas Wolfsburg is at 17.0. This puts Augsburg at fifth-farthest and Wolfsburg in the middle of the table (Bremen has the longest-range average at 19.6, and Dortmund has the shortest-range at 14.5).
The midfield is going to be a crucial part of the field in this match, as Augsburg are the much better side in cutting off opportunities in that section of the ground. 30 tackles have been made in the midfield by Sandro Wagner's side, compared to 20 from Wolfsburg - this puts Wolfsburg second-worst in the league in the midfield, only ahead of Dortmund (12).
Team News
The injury list is quite short for FC Augsburg, down to just two players. Anton Kade (ankle), who can play in any of the right-back, right midfielder, or right wing positions, is unavailable until the end of next week. Dutch centre-back Jeffrey Gouweleeuw (medial collateral ligament) will not return to the squad until the end of November or the first week of December.
Projected XI (3-4-2-1): Dahmen - Banks, Jakić, Matsima - Giannoulis, Massengo, Rexhbeçaj, Fellhauer - Claude-Maurice, Rieder - Kömür.
VFL WOLFSBURG
Like Augsburg, Paul Simonis' VfL Wolfsburg (1-2-2, 12th) side won their opening match, and almost managed two more wins before eventually being faced with late equalisers. While those matches showed some promise, two consecutive results on the losing side means that they are back to a normal bottom-half position.
The club failed to launch a single shot on target in a 0-1 defeat to Borussia Dortmund at Signal Iduna Park two weeks ago, with Christian Eriksen making his Bundesliga debut in a Wolfsburg uniform in that match. This was followed by another 0-1 defeat, at the hands of RB Leipzig; despite being the slightly better side statistically - with 51% possession and having outshot Leipzig 22-20 - Die Wölfe managed just four shots on target.
Wolfsburg have the fifth-best PSxG/SoT record in the league at 0.26, while Augsburg are on the complete other side of the table, third-worst at 0.36 (ahead of only SC Freiburg and 1. FC Heidenheim 1846). In terms of pass accuracy, Simonis' side have a decent advantage; Wolfsburg are better in terms of short passing percentage (89.6 to 85.3), and long ball percentage (54.8 to 44.8), but both are tied on medium passes (88.0), with Wolfsburg having completed 827 of 940 and Augsburg having completed 772 of 877.
In terms of total possession distance between the two sides, Augsburg managed 400 yards more than Wolfsburg in their first five matches of the season; however, Wolfsburg have generated more carries into the opposing box, with 17 compared to 14 from their Swabian opposition.
Team News
Despite Kamil Grabara being the main starter for VfL Wolfsburg, goalkeeper Marius Müller (illness) has come down with an illness and will be returning to training by the time that the season returns in two weeks. Brazilian left-back Rogério (muscle) and Slovak centre-back Denis Vavro (groin) will be absent until mid-October and mid-December, respectively.
Along the wings and forward lines, three Danish internationals are all facing injury situations; Andreas Skov Olsen (knee) is doubtful to make an appearance until late October, and Jesper Lindstrøm (groin) is also absent until the second half of the month. The condition of Jonas Wind (ankle) is also questionable. American midfielder Kevin Paredes (ankle) will be unavailable until the second half of the season, with the earliest projected time for him to return being in the middle of January.
Projected XI (4-2-3-1): Grabara (C) - Mæhle, Koulierakis, Jenz, Fischer - Souza, Arnold - Amoura, Svanberg, Daghim - Pejčinović.
Category: General Sports
