Nmecha earns Wolfsburg win over Augsburg

Wolfsburg 1-0 Augsburg
Goals: 1-0 L. Nmecha 14' (assist: Otavio)

Fresh from his first call-up to the senior Germany squad, Nmecha was making enough of a nuisance of himself before he rose to meet Paulo Otavio's cross to head in his fourth goal of the season, beating Rafal Gikiewicz just inside his near post. Otavio went within inches of adding a second, just missing the left-hand post, before Gikiewicz made a good save to deny Maximilian Arnold from a direct free-kick. Wolfsburg's dominance was not reflected in their one-goal lead, however, and while it was still an advantage, it started to look slender in the opening exchanges of the second half.

Augsburg came out transformed with Andi Zeqiri and Daniel Caligiuri peppering Koen Casteels' goal early on. John Brooks then had to sweep up the danger when half-time substitute Florian Niederlechner appeared primed to bring the guests level. Andre Hahn did have the ball in the back of the net with just under 20 minutes remaining, but he scored from an offside position and the Wolfsburg fans were able to breathe a huge sigh of relief, although the real relief came at the final whistle as the Wolves managed to hold on to a second straight Bundesliga victory, which lifted them back into the top four, at least overnight.

• Nmecha is Wolfsburg’s four-goal top scorer in the league. All four strikes have earned the Wolves victories.
• The German forward has scored in each of Kohfeldt's three games in charge and has four in his past five competitive outings.
• Augsburg conceded in the opening 15 minutes for the eighth time this season – more than any other club in the Bundesliga.
• New coach Kohfeldt has more Bundesliga wins against Augsburg than any other club (six from eight games).
• Augsburg haven’t beaten the Wolves in eight attempts (D3, L5) since a 2-1 win at home in November 2017.

Watch: Nmecha "proud" after first Germany call-up

Wolfsburg: Casteels (c) - Bornauw (van de Ven 57'), Guilavogui, Brooks - Baku (Mbabu 81'), Steffen (Lukebakio 57'), Arnold, Otavio (Roussillon 69') - L. Nmecha, Weghorst, Gerhardt (F. Nmecha 81')
Unused subs: Pervan, Mehmedi, Philipp, Ginczek
Out: Bialek (knee), Lacroix (suspended), Schlager (knee), Waldschmidt (thigh), William (knee)
Coach: Florian Kohfeldt

Augsburg: Gikiewicz - Gumny, Gouweleeuw (c), Oxford, Pedersen - Caligiuri (Hahn 64'), Maier, Strobl, Vargas (Cordova 64' - Finnbogason (Niederlechner 46', Gregoritsch 75'), Zeqiri
Unused subs: Koubek, Gruezo, Winther, Dorsch, Framberger
Out: Iago (hand), Sarenren Bazee (knee), Uduokhai (hamstring)
Coach: Markus Weinzierl

Watch: Kohfeldt: "Thank you to my players"