Wolfsburg vs PFC Oleksandria Predictions

Oleksandria face a tough start as they face their first ever group stage clash in European football. The visitors have a short background in the Europa League, but they made it into the group stage thanks to their league performance last term. However, has that pushed them into the deep end a little too early? They head to Wolfsburg in their group opener on Thursday, with the host’s heavy favourites for the victory.

Wolfsburg were able to secure their own return to European football, ending a three-year absence from continental competition. The hosts’ last act in Europe was their dramatic 3-2 exit to Real Madrid in the Champions League back in 2016. That’s quite the tie to follow up, but they are being strongly backed for a victory at home to Oleksandria this week.

The visitors are coming into this clash on the back of a third-place finish in the league last term. They have been gradually improving in Ukraine since they were promoted in 2015. They attempted promotion and succeeded three years running between 2012 and 2015 but they were refused a top-flight place in the first two campaigns. Since coming back they’ve been consistently in the top seven. However, this is another kind of test entirely.

We see the visitors struggling here, especially when you consider the gap in resources. Wolfsburg will have ambitions of a top-four Bundesliga finish and they’ll be desperate to play in the Champions League again. However, in the meantime we expect them to take the Europa League seriously. They have had a mixed start to the Bundesliga campaign with two wins and two draws, so another victory would be a boost.

Wolfsburg should claim all three points in this one, as they have the chance to get forward and get goals. Oleksandria have seen over 2.5 goals in all of their Europa League defeats so far, while Wolfsburg have seen at least three goals in their two Bundesliga victories this term. However, recent Europa League games haven’t been kind to the hosts, who conceded in five of their six group stage games the last time they featured at this point.

Overall, we see enough problems in the hosts’ defence to back a consolation goal for the visitors. However, the Ukrainian side have had their own problems in Europe, while they should struggle to hold off a superior side. As a result, we are going with a home win and over 2.5 goals to be scored, while a 3-1 home victory is our correct score pick, having landed in two of the visitors’ six Europa League ties.