Reasons to be cheerful - a week after becoming Wolfsburg's youngest-ever Bundesliga scorer against Hoffenheim, Maximilian Arnold bagged another to put the Wolves in front at Bremen
Reasons to be cheerful - a week after becoming Wolfsburg's youngest-ever Bundesliga scorer against Hoffenheim, Maximilian Arnold bagged another to put the Wolves in front at Bremen

Wolfsburg compound Werder's woes

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Bremen - VfL Wolfsburg piled the misery on northern German rivals SV Werder Bremen with a 3-0 win at the Weserstadion, putting some daylight between the two sides in the bottom half of the table.

Two down within half an hour

Shooting star Maximilian Arnold scored his second goal in as many games to give the Wolves an early lead before Ivica Olic doubled up before half time. Diego then presented an unwelcome gift to his former club with the third goal from the penalty spot as Wolfsburg notched their 200th Bundesliga victory.

While the pre-match attention was on the return of former sporting director Klaus Allofs, defender Naldo and playmaker Diego to Bremen, the home side seemed able to block that out of their minds with a bright opening. That was all soon forgotten, though, as Arnold netted for the second game running - once again in the 13th minute, just as he had against 1899 Hoffenheim a week ago.

It was a goal out of the blue too as the Wolves’ youngest ever debutant, and goalscorer, turned past Kevin de Bruyne before unleashing a low shot from nearly 30 yards beyond the reach of Diego Benaglio - incidentally the 13th goal Bremen have conceded from long range this season. In the 27th minute, Olic doubled the Wolves’ advantage by beating the onrushing Sebastian Mielitz with a cool finish for his 50th Bundesliga goal.

Attacking transformation


Bremen coach Thomas Schaaf responded by bringing Nils Petersen, a forward, on for Sebastian Prödl, a defender. It was an early gamble which did not pay any dividends as Benaglio remained largely untested in the Wolfsburg goal before the home fans let their feelings be heard at the sound of the half-time whistle.

Schaaf probably did not need to add much to that chorus of disapproval during half time to get the necessary message across to his troops and they came out with the bit between their teeth, Marko Arnautovic seeing an early goal ruled out for offside.

Diego seals it


The Austrian forward missed a glorious chance to reduce the arrears on the hour mark when he failed to take advantage of a mistake by Benaglio, missing an inviting cross from De Bruyne at the far post. It was symptomatic of Bremen’s day that, no sooner had they gone close to finding a lifeline, they were left dangling by an even thinner thread when a foul by Özkan Yildirim on Vieirinha was punished with a penalty.

Diego stepped up to convert his third spot-kick in a row and put the result beyond any doubt. The home fans nobly tried their best to lift their team’s spirits, but Bremen could not find even a consolation goal as they extended their winless streak to nine matches, in which they have picked up just four points. Wolfsburg, on the other hand,are now unbeaten in their last six Bundesliga outings, establishing a ten-point cushion over the bottom three.

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