Hertha Berlin host Arminia Bielefeld in the Bundesliga on Sunday in a potentially decisive encounter in terms of shaping this season's relegation picture.
The two sides head into the clash level on points after Hertha's 3-0 win against Freiburg on Thursday, which saw Bielefeld drop into the relegation playoff position.
Match preview
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Having been unable to play for over three weeks due to a COVID-19 outbreak at the club last month, it has been an excellent return to action for Hertha, who have picked up four points from two matches against Mainz 05 and Freiburg to move outside of the bottom three.
Lucas Tousart saw his opener cancelled out by Philipp Mwene's stunner at in-form Mainz, before Pal Dardai's side really clicked into gear against Freiburg on Thursday.
Krzysztof Piatek fired in from a tight angle after only 13 minutes, before Peter Pekarik doubled the hosts' lead with a fine header nine minutes later.
Christian Streich's side dominated the ball, but ultimately could not find a way back into the game, with Nemanja Radonjic wrapping up a crucial victory for Hertha late on.
As well as boasting a game in hand on all of their relegation rivals, Hertha now face three opponents - Bielefeld, Schalke 04 and FC Koln - all below them in the table in the space of seven days, so they have an excellent chance to put some real distance between themselves and danger.
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Bielefeld will certainly require a much better performance than the one which saw them thrashed 5-0 by Borussia Monchengladbach last time out if they are to attain a positive result from Sunday's trip to Berlin.
Frank Kramer's side were blown away by Die Fohlen, with Breel Embolo, Marcus Thuram and Ramy Bensebaini striking in the first half, before Embolo doubled his personal tally after the break. Alassane Plea later added further gloss to Gladbach's victory.
In truth, Bielefeld's away form has simply not been up to scratch all season, with only Schalke possessing a worse record on the road in the Bundesliga this season.
With Koln, who currently occupy the first automatic relegation place, only a point behind Bielefeld, gaining momentum and likely to feel confident of securing a positive result against Freiburg this weekend, the magnitude of Sunday's match against Hertha cannot be underestimated if Kramer's side are to avoid falling straight back to the second tier of German football having only gained promotion last season.
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Team News
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Hertha's return to action has been made all the more impressive given that they are without Dodi Lukebakio, Marvin Plattenhardt and Rune Jarstein due to coronavirus.
They will also be without Matteo Guendouzi against Bielefeld, after the Arsenal loanee picked up his fifth booking of the season against Freiburg, so Sami Khedira is likely to return to the starting XI.
With the short turnaround in fixtures and lack of match fitness among his group of players in mind, Dardai made several changes between the matches against Mainz and Freiburg, so the likes of Matheus Cunha, Jhon Cordoba and Tousart could return to the side having dropped to the bench on Thursday.
Luca Netz and Eduard Lowen are out for the rest of the season due to injury.
Bielefeld, meanwhile, will travel to Berlin without Nathan de Medina after the full-back received his fifth caution of the season during the heavy defeat to Gladbach.
Cedric Brunner is the obvious candidate to replace him at right-back, with Kramer appearing to have no injury issues to contend with.
Andreas Voglsammer is likely to return to the starting XI, with Christian Gebauer potentially dropping to the bench.
Hertha Berlin possible starting lineup:
Schwolow; Klunter, Stark, Dardai; Zeefuik, Tousart, Khedira, Darida, Mittelstadt; Cordoba, Cunha
Arminia Bielefeld possible starting lineup:
Ortega; Brunnr, Pieper, Nilsson, Lucoqui; Okugawa, Prietl, Maier; Doan, Klos, Voglsammer
We say: Hertha Berlin 2-0 Arminia Bielefeld
Hertha's enforced break appears to have done them the world of good, and we expect them to be too strong for Bielefeld on Sunday.
Not many sides in the bottom half of the table could cope with Hertha's congested schedule, but Dardai is blessed with strength in depth and has the ability to rotate the majority of his team without suffering from any tangible dip in quality.
Top tip
Brett Curtis
Data Analysis
Our analysis of all available data, including recent performances and player stats up until an hour before kickoff, suggested the most likely outcome of this match was a Hertha Berlin win with a probability of 51.86%. A draw had a probability of 24.5% and a win for Arminia Bielefeld had a probability of 23.67%.
The most likely scoreline for a Hertha Berlin win was 1-0 with a probability of 11.26%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-1 (9.62%) and 2-0 (9.31%). The likeliest drawn scoreline was 1-1 (11.63%), while for an Arminia Bielefeld win it was 0-1 (7.04%). The actual scoreline of 0-0 was predicted with a 6.8% likelihood.
