Wolfsburg vs Malmo FF Predictions

• Under 2.5 goals have been produced in 64% of Wolfsburg’s home games.
• Wolfsburg score an average of 1.09 goals per home game.
• Under 2.5 goals were scored in 3 of Wolfsburg’s 6 Europa League group games.
• Under 2.5 goals were scored in 4 of Malmo’s 6 Europa League group games.

Malmo haven’t been playing many competitive games of late

Wolfsburg have the advantage of being in the middle of their domestic campaign heading into Thursday’s 1st leg while Malmo haven’t played in the league since November and don’t start the new season until April, so it will be interesting to see if the hosts can use that to their advantage.

Wolfsburg won three of their six matches in the group stage on their way to a comfortable 2nd place finish behind Belgian side Gent, while Malmo also won half of their matches in Group B and 11pts proved enough for the Swedish side to claim top spot ahead of fellow Scandinavians Copenhagen.

Under 2.5 goals were scored in three of Wolfsburg’s and four of Malmo’s group games, with Thursday’s guests failing to score in two of their three away games and the hosts winning their last two matches in Group I 1-0. We’re expecting a tight and tense ninety minutes in this 1st leg as Malmo will be aiming to keep the score as low as possible with the aim of turning the tie in their favour back in Sweden and with 64% of Wolfsburg’s home matches producing under 2.5 goals, we have backed a low-scoring ninety minutes.

Malmo failed to score in two of their three away games in Group B

Wolfsburg have won as many games at home as they have lost in the Bundesliga (27%) but will be confident they can take an advantage into the 2nd leg with a solid performance at home on Thursday. The hosts score an average of just 1.09 goals per home game and scored 1-goal in four of their six Europa League group games, so you can see why we have backed the hosts to win 1-0 on Thursday.

The hosts have only failed to score in 18% of their league games at home and scored in all of their group games, while Malmo failed to score in two of their six group matches both of which we’re away from home. The visitors only conceded more than 1-goal in two of their four group games in the Europa League this season, adding further weight to our prediction for a 1-0 home win.

We’re confident that under 2.5 goals will be scored in Thursday’s 1st leg and we have predicted a final scoreline of 1-0 in favour of the hosts. Wolfsburg have the advantage of playing more competitive games than Malmo in recent months as well playing in a more competitive domestic league, and we feel this will play its part in Thursday’s result.