Wolfsburg vs PSV Eindhoven - Home points are a must for Wolfsburg, warns Julian Draxler

Posted Tuesday, October 20, 2015 by PA

Julian Draxler says Wolfsburg must win their home games in the Champions League if they are to progress to the knockout stages from an evenly-balanced Group B.

The Wolves defeated CSKA Moscow 1-0 in their opening fixture, but a 2-1 defeat at Manchester United has left them locked with all the other teams in the pool on three points after two matches.

They go into their fixture against PSV Eindhoven at the VW-Arena on Wednesday night under pressure to pick up maximum points again in front of their own fans, aware that their remaining trips to Eindhoven and Moscow present significant challenges.

"If you want to win in the Champions League then you've always got to push yourself to the limit and you've got to get the points, particularly at home, if you still want to be in the competition over the winter," Draxler told his club's official website.

Wolfsburg's director of sport Klaus Allofs added: "We cannot afford to make many more mistakes - if we don't win in front of our own fans, then everything would still be wide open, but a win would certainly put us into a good position.

"You've got to win at home if you can. I'm hoping to see the ruthlessness which we showed already against Moscow.

"That wasn't a brilliant game from us, but we kept our cool and I would like to see the same again against PSV."

Statistically speaking, the Wolves should fancy their chances of getting a result against a side who have not won in Germany since 1977, losing 14 times.

That win came in Braunschweig - the city where they landed on Tuesday, looking to bounce back from an "unnecessary" 1-1 draw against Excelsior on Saturday which saw them lose ground on the top two in the Eredivisie.

"We really threw it away," said PSV coach Phillip Cocu on his club's official website.

"These were big points for us. We weren't efficient enough. We sat back after going 1-0 up and that must never happen again."

Cocu has taken a squad of 20 players to Wolfsburg with defender Santiago Arias suspended, but former Borussia Monchengladbach forward Luuk de Jong is part of the travelling party.

Only Robin Knoche is absent for the hosts, who got back to winning ways in the Bundesliga at the weekend with a 4-2 win over Hoffenheim.