Dusseldorf v Aue

Fortuna Düsseldorf face off against Erzgebirge Aue today in the Bundesliga 2. A Düsseldorf win can see them take a good leap towards their current aim of avoiding relegation.

They are in 16^th position which means they would face promotion/relegation playoffs. They are however eight points clear of their opponent today who sit in 17^th. Düsseldorf ended a streak of five games without victory by booking a good win over Schalke last Saturday, by scoring twice in the second half for a 2-1 victory. It’s quite likely that manager Daniel Thioune will book his second victory in as many games at the helm. I expect them to book a win over struggling Aue, but it is worth mentioning that Düsseldorf have conceded at least one goal in every single home game this season.

Aue will be looking for an upset, but given their recent form this seems very unlikely. They trail Düsseldorf by 8 points and they might see the gap increase even further and could face nine games in a row without a win. They have also lost three straight. Aue have secured just one away win all season and they have also allowed for a league worst total of 42 goals scored against.

Adam Bodzek (12 apps) and Emmanuel Iyoha (7 apps) are out for Düsseldorf. Recent signings Jordy de Wijs and Daniel Ginczek should do well to compensate and I expect Rouwen Hennings to play an integral part after scoring his ninth goal of the season against Schalke.

Erzgebirge Aue have some more issues as Malcolm Cacutalua, Ognjen Gnjatic and especially Omar Sijaric (16 apps) are out. Soufiane Messeguem collected his second red card of the season and will have to sit this one out as well.

I expect Düsseldorf to win. The odds for a win are around 1.6 but as they have conceded a goal in every single home game, both teams to score looks rather inviting as well at around 1.9. Aue have scored eight goals in their last seven away games played. Nikola Trujic has scored twice in the last four games and Antonio Jonjic has five in total.

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Darmstadt v Rostock

Darmstadt face off against Hansa Rostock. The home team are currently fourth and trail the league leaders by just one point. They did suffer a home defeat to HSV in their last home game, but HSV are also title contenders, while Hansa Rostock are battling relegation. I don’t want to value this loss too heavily, after all they have won 6 of 10 home games and did this mostly against lower ranked opposition.

Hansa are only fourteenth, 9 points clear of direct relegation, however just one point clear of the promotion/relegation playoffs. Apart from a good 4-1 over Dresden two matches ago, they have either lost or drawn four games, so they have won just 1 of their last nine games played.

Matthias Bader (20 apps) is suspended for Darmstadt, while Sobiech (9 apps) is injured. Apart from that they should be able to field their strongest line up,  including their front two of Luka Pfeiffer and Philip Tietz who have scored 11 and 12 goals respectively.

Hansa have a few issues looking at the squad that’s available. Damian Rossbach (21 apps) is suspended. Ridge Munsy, Nik Omladic and Lukas Scherff are all out. In missing a total of four starting or rotation players I can see this being an issue. Timo Becker will look to play in defence and Haris Duljevic in midfield. Both players have not played or shown much so far this season. Darmstadt should be the better side here and take advantage of the 2-3 central missing players in the Hansa Rostock side.

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St. Pauli v Hannover

League leaders St. Pauli host struggling Hannover and are looking to continue their promotion aspirations. They are topping the table currently with 12 wins, 5 draws and 5 losses.  They did recently end a streak of 5 games without a win by beating Jahn Regensburg 3-2. But much to their advantage, they are undefeated at home winning 8 and drawing twice. St. Pauli have also scored a league best 28 goals and have allowed a league best 9 goals both at home as well.

Hannover then are not having the best of seasons and are 13^th. They are not doing particularly well with 6 wins, 7 draws and 9 losses. On top of this they are only 2 points clear of 16^th ranked Düsseldorf which is the position that requires promotion/relegation playoffs. One place below, direct relegation seems miles away for Hannover though, as they are 10 points clear there. They are looking to end a streak of 3 games without a win but this seems very unlikely. Hannover’s goal scoring track record is unimpressive as well, bagging just 18 goals from their 22 games.

Both sides are without some players, but St. Pauli only miss James Lawrence, and Philipp Ziereis. Ziereis is a regular with 19 games played. I expect Adam Dzwigala to step in and do fine for this match.

Hannover are a few more key players. Gaël Ondoua is suspended after collecting five yellow cards, Sebastian Ernst, Sei Muroya and Philipp Ochs are out. That means the side will have to play without three regular starting players as well as Ochs who has been present in 12 games. Julian Börner and Jannik Dehm will need to step in. Fortunately for Christoph Dabrowski the side have been able to sign Mark Diemers and Marvin Duksch recently, but they are still without some important players which I think will hurt them. 

They will be looking to play compact and very defensive, but with Sebastian Kerk as leading goal scorer with 5 goals, and Ducksch 1 goal in 4 games this is not overly prolific, they can provide a threat with their experience but they are not the explosive pacey strikers to provide many opportunities from counters, so they would require a lot of luck to get going in this one.

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