Ninth-placed Wolfsburg will hope to avoid an upset in their battle for Europe when they host second-last VfL Bochum on Saturday at Volkswagen Arena in the Bundesliga.

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Wolfsburg left it late against Stuttgart, scoring their only big chances in the 77th and 82nd minutes after Die Roten had initially taken a 72nd-minute lead.

In fact, seven of their last 10 goals have been scored after the 60th minute, while only four of their last 25 have come in the first half of matches.

Manager Ralph Hasenhuttl will be concerned that his side have only kept one clean sheet in their past six, conceding eight in that period.

The visitors' record against teams in the bottom half of the table is somewhat mixed given they have dropped points against teams such as last-placed Holstein Kiel and fifth last St Pauli, though they have earned draws against second-placed Bayer Leverkusen and third-placed Eintracht Frankfurt.

Hasenhuttl's side have struggled for victories having drawn three, lost one and won one of their past five, though three of those games were against the Bundesliga's top three.

The Wolves' record at home has been strong for some time, with the club losing just once in their nine most recent outings at Volkswagen Arena, winning five and settling for a point on three occasions.

Meanwhile, Bochum beat Borussia Dortmund 2-0 on February 15 in what was an evenly contested match considering both teams generated in excess of 2.5 xG, but the victors did manage to produce six big chances compared to Dortmund's four.

The victory means that while they are currently in the relegation zone, they are level on points with 16th-placed Heidenheim, who occupy the league's relegation playoff spot.

Head coach Dieter Hecking will want to avoid another defeat against Wolfsburg, with Bochum having been defeated 3-1 by the Wolves on October 5 despite producing a similar expected goals figure.

Die Blauen come into Saturday's game with two wins and two draws in their last six Bundesliga outings, picking up more points than eight of the bottom nine in that time.

However, Bochum are winless on the road this term in all competitions, losing 10 and drawing two of their 12 away fixtures in 2024-25.

Wolfsburg possible starting lineup:

Muller; Roerslev, Vavro, Koulierakis, Maehle; Tomas, Svanberg, Vranckx, Wimmer; Wind, Amoura

VfL Bochum possible starting lineup:

Drewes; Masovic, Ordets, Bernardo; Oermann, Bero, Sissoko, Krauss, Wittek; Masouras, Hofmann