Need to deliver against Wolfsburg

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Wolfsburg put Werder on the spot this weekend (photo: nordphoto).

First Team

Thursday, 14.04.2016 / 17:39

The pressure is on. After the disappointing result last weekend against Augsburg, Werder now have to pick up points in the relegation battle. The advantage is that Werder are home again this weekend, but they face strong outfit Wolfsburg, who recently played in the Champions League quarter-final. Head coach Viktor Skripnik knows that it won’t be easy. "Wolfsburg spent a long time fighting in Europe. We know their strengths. It will be hard but we’re playing at home. We must deliver." Kick-off is on Saturday at 15:30 CEST.

Grillitsch scores Werder's 22nd goal in the second half of the season (photo: nordphoto).

Did you know that…

…SVW are one of the most offensively strong teams in the league at the moment? Florian Grillitsch scored the 22nd Rückrunde goal for Werder against Augsburg last weekend, making the Green-Whites the fourth-highest scoring team along with Dortmund in the second half of the season. Wolfsburg have scored 14 since Christmas and 39 in total, just one more than Werder. They currently sit eleven points ahead of Bremen.

…the visitors have not enjoyed playing away from home this season? They have only picked up 11 points on the road from 14 games and sit second bottom in the away table.

…Junuzovic needs to practise his corners? Werder have scored nine from the corner spot this season, the most in the league. Wolfsburg, however, are yet to concede a single goal from a corner in the Bundesliga.

…Wolfsburg are the highest team in the table that Werder have left to play? Ten wins and ten draws leave them eighth, while the rest of Werder’s remaining opponents are Hamburg (10th), Stuttgart (12th), Köln (11th) and Frankfurt (17th).

…both sides have been awaiting a win? Both Wolfsburg and Werder have gone four Bundesliga games without a victory. The last win for the team from Lower Saxony came on matchday 25 with a 2-1 victory over Borussia Mönchengladbach. On that same matchday, Werder won 4-1 against Hannover.

Piza has twelve goals against the Wolves to his name (photo: nordphoto).

… Wolfsburg have suffered their highest away and home losses against Werder? In the 99/00 season, hat-tricks from Marco Bode and Claudio Pizarro helped Bremen dispatch the Wolves 7-2 away, while SVW also won 6-1 at the Weser-Stadion in November.

… a comeback for Pizarro is on the cards? The Peruvian has scored 12 goals in 22 games against Wolfsburg. Piza has only scored more against Hamburg and Hertha.

… the exit from the Champions League doesn’t pay a role in this game for Thomas Eichin? "Wolfsburg are an extremely strong team. I can’t say whether it would’ve been better for them to play 120 minutes and then get knocked or for them to have progressed. We’re not interested in that. We need to focus on our own preparation and what Wolfsburg do means nothing," said the chief executive.