Separated by four points in the Bundesliga table, bottom-placed VfL Bochum welcome St Pauli to the Vonovia Ruhrstadion for Wednesday's 17th round, eager to secure consecutive home victories in the top flight in the pair's first top-tier meeting since 1997.
Despite ending 2024 with success over Heidenheim, Dieter Hecking's men lost 2-0 in gameweek 16 at Mainz 05 but aim to return to winning ways against an opponent with one victory in four league matches.
Match preview
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After finishing last year by preventing third-bottom Heidenheim from pulling away in the Bundesliga, Bochum's 2025 began with a 2-0 defeat at Europe-chasing Mainz, leaving them unable to reduce the eight-point gap to Hoffenheim in 15th place.
Considering Heidenheim's encouraging 2-0 win over Union Berlin to start 2025, the Blues head into their second top-flight match of the year seven points adrift of the relegation playoff position.
Despite their wretched season so far, which has produced one victory in normal time and another given retrospectively following the DFB Sports Court awarding them three points in last month's 1-1 draw at Union Berlin after Patrick Drewes was hit by a lighter thrown from the crowd in Berlin, Die Blauen have enjoyed a five-match unbeaten run against Wednesday's opponents.
Although none of those encounters was in the Bundesliga, Hecking's troops aim to extend that sequence of positive results to six matches, and are keen to notch consecutive Bundesliga home victories for the first time since December 2023, when they beat Wolfsburg (3-1) and Union Berlin (3-0).
However, winning just once on home soil in 19 fixtures (nine draws and nine losses) against promoted clubs highlights a complication ahead of the midweek round against last year's second-tier champions.
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Like low-scoring Bochum (14 goals), Alexander Blessin's St Pauli (12 goals) ended 2024 positively, defeating Stuttgart at the MHPArena, but Kiezkicker could not follow up that victory on home soil in the new year, though there was no shame in losing against the league's third-placed side Eintracht Frankfurt.
That 1-0 defeat was the 14th-placed club's third in four matches, with six points from their previous gameweeks — the same tally as Wednesday's hosts — only better than five Bundesliga clubs.
Regardless, ending last year with an away victory should fill supporters with hope, having witnessed more road success this term, as underscored by accruing nine of their 14 points on their travels.
That accounts for 64% of St Pauli's points since regaining promotion, and they aim to clinch consecutive away triumphs in the top flight for the first time since 2010, when they got the better of Borussia Monchengladbach (2-1) and Hannover (1-0).
Although travelling to a ground they last won at in 2018 might not fill some supporters with confidence, St Pauli's statistical quirk of claiming maximum points in four consecutive Bundesliga matches played on a Wednesday and Bochum losing six on the trot in top-flight fixtures taking place on the same day could encourage supporters heading to North Rhine-Westphalia this week.
Team News
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Ivan Ordets could miss out on Wednesday due to a head injury, and the centre-back could join the doubtful pair of Mats Pannewig and Tim Oermann on the sidelines.
Matus Bero scored in Bochum's win over Heidenheim, taking him to three goals plus assists, level with forward Philipp Hofmann, who aims to add to his tally for the cellar-dwelling hosts.
St Pauli have several injury worries: Elias Saad, Johannes Eggestein and Karol Mets will be assessed before Wednesday; however, Lars Ritzka (muscle), Robert Wagner (hip), Connor Metcalfe (muscle), Sascha Burchert (groin), Simon Zoller (calf) and Soren Ahlers (knee) are anticipated to miss the gameweek 17 fixture.
With Saad and Eggestein, both of whom have scored two goals apiece, doubtful, the competition's lowest scorers will hope Morgan Guilavogui (two) and Oladapo Afolayan (two) add to their tallies this week.
VfL Bochum possible starting lineup:
Drewes; Medic, Masovic, Bernardo; Passlack, Bero, Sissoko, Wittek; De Wit; Broschinski, Hofmann
St Pauli possible starting lineup:
Vasilj; Wahl, Smith, Nemeth; Saliakas, Irvine, Boukhalfa, Treu; Afolayan, Sinani, Guilavogui
We say: VfL Bochum 1-1 St Pauli
With both sides level on the form table, accruing six points apiece from their previous five matches, and Bochum and St Pauli seldom producing encouraging goalscoring numbers — the away side have scored the fewest goals in the league (12) — the spoils could be shared in North Rhine-Westphalia.
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