Football Bet of the Day: Wolves to hunt three points

Hosts to start well

Wolfsburg v Werder Bremen
Saturday 06 August, 14:30
Live on Betfair Live Video

Bayern were at their brilliant best last night, and our Over 3.5 Goals bet landed well before half-time, as the record champions romped to a 6-1 win at Eintracht Frankfurt. Good for us, not great for anyone hoping to catch the Bavarians.

We'll stay in Germany, because former Bayern boss Niko Kovac is back in the Bundesliga with Wolfsburg, and I fancy him to make a winning start at home to newly-promoted Werder Bremen.

Kovac takes over a Wolfsburg team that desperately requires structure and a cohesive tactical plan. Last season the Wolves failed to cope with losing coach Oliver Glasner to Eintracht Frankfurt (he went on to win the Europa League in his first season), and they toiled under Mark van Bommel and Florian Kohfeldt. Kovac is a proven performer- he won the double with Bayern, and led Frankfurt to victory in the 2018 DFB Pokal.

Wolfsburg have spent extensively on recruitment, and have an excellent squad. Koen Casteels is one of the league's best keepers, Maxence Lacroix is a fine centre-back, Ridle Baku has a chance of becoming Germany's right wing-back if he starts the season well and there is lots of attacking quality. Wolfsburg won regularly in pre-season, and edged out Carl Zeiss Jena 1-0 in the Pokal last weekend.

Werder Bremen bounced back from relegation at the first attempt last season, and coach Ole Werner deserves huge credit. However, star striker Marvin Ducksch has never regularly scored at this level, and strike partner Niclas Füllkrug has suffered several serious injuries in his career. A lot of the players Werner relies upon are the ones that were part of the relegation campaign, and it might take a while for the northern giants to settle down.

I think Wolfsburg are in better shape than Werder right now, and realistically this is a game between a top-eight contender and a side that will be happy to stay up. On that basis, 1.981/1 for the home win is an attractive price.