Wolfsburg v Everton background
Sunday, November 9, 2014
Article summary
A place in the UEFA Europa League round of 32 is the prize on offer for the winners as VfL Wolfsburg and Everton FC battle for top spot in Group H on matchday five.
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After a big home win on matchday four, VfL Wolfsburg will look to end their losing streak against English sides when Everton FC visit in the battle of the Group H frontrunners.
Form guide
• A 4-1 defeat by Everton on matchday one means Wolfsburg have lost their last five games – home and away – against English clubs; Everton are yet to lose in six encounters with Bundesliga sides (W1 D2 in Germany).
• Wolfsburg are unbeaten in two European home matches (W1 D1) since their last English visitors, Fulham FC, prevailed 1-0 in the 2009/10 UEFA Europa League quarter-finals; Everton are without a win in three European away games (D2 L1).
• Everton made it through to the knockout phase in both of their previous UEFA Cup and UEFA Europa League group stage campaigns.
• Wolfsburg's 5-1 defeat of FC Krasnodar on matchday four matched the margin of their biggest ever previous UEFA competition victory. Oddly, it came six years to the day after their only previous 5-1 European home win – against sc Heerenveen in the 2008/09 UEFA Cup group stage.
Trivia and links
• Everton's Romelu Lukaku, Samuel Eto'o and Christian Atsu were on the books at Chelsea FC alongside Wolfsburg's Kevin De Bruyne.
• Wolfsburg's Danish forward Nicklas Bendtner also knows plenty about English football, having been an Arsenal FC player between 2005 and 2014, when he joined his current club.
• Everton's Arouna Koné (Hannover 96, 2010) and Steven Pienaar (Borussia Dortmund, 2006-08) have Bundesliga experience, along with their Bosnian international club-mate Muhamed Bešić, who was born in Berlin and started his career at Hamburger SV.
The coaches
• At one stage a lower-league midfielder and trainee policeman, Wolfsburg coach Dieter Hecking is back in Europe for the first time since leading second-tier TSV Alemannia Aachen into the 2004/05 UEFA Cup group stage. More recently, he has coached Hannover 96 and 1. FC Nürnberg, taking up his current post in December 2012.
• Everton's attack-minded Spanish manager Roberto Martínez was a fine midfielder in the English lower leagues with the likes of Wigan Athletic FC and Swansea City AFC, and coached both clubs with great success, notably winning the 2012/13 FA Cup with the Latics before taking charge of Everton in June 2013.
