Wolfsburg goalkeeper Diego Benaglio has called for his side to turn the VW-Arena into a fortress again for two big matches.

Last season, the Wolves equalled a record set by both Bayern Munich and Schalke with 16 wins and one draw in their 17 home games in the Bundesliga.

This term, they have lost their way a little with three defeats already in front of their own fans.

Freiburg are the guests tomorrow and Manchester United visit on Tuesday for a decisive Champions League clash, and Benaglio knows there can be no more slip-ups.

"We need to rediscover our home strength," said the Swiss, who has had to fish the ball out of the back of his net 16 times already at the VW-Arena this season.

His team mate Christian Gentner added in the Wolfsburger Nachrichten newspaper: "If we don't, then we have no chance of staying near the top of the table.

"We may be the favourites, but Freiburg cannot be underestimated.

"We have got to be more compact at the back and take the chances we will get in attack."

Freiburg have won more games away from home this season than in front of their own fans, but their coach Robin Dutt insists that is purely coincidental, and a quirk of the fixture list which has sent many of the big clubs to the Dreisam Stadion in the first half of the season.

"I don't think we can explain this home and away record," he said.

"We have lost to big clubs at home with Leverkusen, Bayern, Hoffenheim or Bremen, but on the other hand, we have won rather unexpectedly at Hamburg, Hertha Berlin and Schalke and dropped points at Frankfurt and Hannover when we had expected more from these games."

The aim tomorrow will also be to "get points where we are not really expected to".

Dutt has several new options in his squad for the trip north with captain Heiko Butscher on the road to recovery and Daniel Caligiuri also available.

Wolfsburg are without Obafemi Martins, who will be out until the new year after undergoing surgery on his left shin this week.