'Wolfsburg will stand up and fight'

And he is Bruno Labbadia. A familiar face in Leverkusen. The 52-year-old was the Bayer 04 coach in 2008/09. Last week he took over the helm at relegation-threatened Wolfsburg following the surprise resignation of Martin Schmidt. Labbadia has been tasked with saving the Wolves from demotion to the second division. And Heiko Herrlich is well aware a change of coach can breathe new life into a struggling side. "We had almost exactly the same situation in the first half of the season," declared the Bayer 04 head coach. Ahead of the first meeting in the middle of October 2017, Schmidt had just replaced Andries Jonker as the Wolfsburg coach and his team earned a point at the BayArena. The Werkself twice took the lead with goals from  Lars Bender and Lucas Alario before the visitors from Wolfsburg levelled.

Herrlich hopes opponents play their part

Herrlich is expecting a similar committed approach in the return match tomorrow. "Bruno Labbadia has already said he doesn't want to overburden his players with new ideas but initially try to get back to basics," said Herrlich before adding: They will stand up and fight." At the same time, he's hoping – unlike many recent opponents – Wolfsburg will not just sit back and defend. "If a team tries to play then there is more space for us after we win possession. I'm excited to see how Wolfsburg will play," said Herrlich declaring that the opposing players have "incredible quality" and are strong in attack. In the meeting earlier in the season, Divock Origi and Jakub Blaszczykowski showed their strength in front of goal even though the top scorers at the club are Daniel Didavi (six goals) and Yunus Malli (five). VfL also strengthened their squad in the winter break with the signing of Bayer 04 striker Admir Mehmedi. The Switzerland international has yet to open his account with his new club and hopefully it remains that way on Saturday from a Werkself perspective.

Bayer 04 are obviously looking to take three points tomorrow. The Black and Reds are unbeaten on the road since matchday five in Berlin when they lost 2-1 to Hertha. The Werkself have won five games and drawn four away from home. "It's no coincidence we've picked up so many points away from home," said Herrlich. The 46-year-old is also taking a bold approach to tomorrow's game: "We have a certain strength away from home and go there in confident mood."

Karim Bellarabi set to play

The situation with player availability is positive: Jonathan Tah (flu) and Lars Bender (muscle injury) have returned to full training this week. And Herrlich is also optimistic about Leon Bailey, who has had a number of muscle problems recently and missed training at the start of the week. "He will take part in the final pre-match training session and then we'll see if he's able to play." The Bayer 04 coach will be without the suspended Bayer 04 coach Panos Retsos (five yellow cards) and Dominik Kohr (red card). Karim Bellarabi is definitely set to play. "He's trained really well in recent weeks and he won the cup game for us against Bremen. He will definitely play," revealed Herrlich.

The Werkself will have the support of 800 fans in Lower Saxony.