Wolfsburg vs Hoffenheim preview - 1Wolfsburg v Hoffenheim

Posted Friday, February 06, 2015 by PA

Andre Schurrle hopes to make his Wolfsburg debut this weekend, claiming he is psychologically ready to face Hoffenheim.

Schurrle arrived from Chelsea on transfer deadline day, just too late for him to feature in the draw at Eintracht Frankfurt on Tuesday.

He has now had a few more days to get to know his new team-mates and coach Dieter Hecking and says he cannot wait to make his debut this Saturday at the VW-Arena.

"I feel psychologically that I was even ready to play in Frankfurt, but we have to see how I am physically," Schurrle told his club's official website.

"I wasn't playing for the past two or three weeks, but was just training. I've always been able to catch up very quickly physically and I am sure I will soon be able to help Wolfsburg.

"It dragged on a bit in the end, and that got on my nerves a bit too, but now I'm finally at Wolfsburg and I'm very, very happy about it."

The former Bayer Leverkusen and Mainz midfielder's last Bundesliga game came nearly two years ago and he is delighted to be back in his home country again.

"It was what I really wanted," he said. "I had offers from Spain and France, but in the end I desperately wanted to return to Germany.

"Wolfsburg's interest came in pretty early on and so I took a look at their team and the club's prospects, which look very good.

"It soon became clear to me where I wanted to go. I was a little tense because I was desperate for this move to Wolfsburg to go through."

He joins a team eight points adrift of Bayern Munich at the top of the table and, despite only drawing in midweek, five points clear of the teams below them.

One of those pursuers was Hoffenheim, but back-to-back defeats have hit their hopes of qualifying for Europe next season.

The visitors are now five points behind sixth-placed Schalke and a place in the Europa League next season, and a third straight defeat in Wolfsburg could instead force them to look over their shoulders at the chasing pack.