Relegation candidates Augsburg welcome Borussia Monchengladbach to the WWK Arena on Wednesday evening in the latest round of Bundesliga matches.
Enrico Maassen's side find themselves above the relegation playoff position only because of a superior goalscoring record compared to Stuttgart, while the Foals remain in pursuit of their maiden away league victory of the 2022-23 campaign.
Match preview
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Winless in the league since October 2, Augsburg are at risk of plying their trade in the second division of German football for the first time since 2011.
Maassen's side have struggled throughout the opening half of the season, registering a Bundesliga-low 13% win ratio in their eight league encounters at the WWK Arena before the commencement of Qatar's 2022 winter World Cup spectacle.
Only above the relegation playoff position due to finding the back of the net on two more occasions than 16th-placed Stuttgart, Fuggerstadter were on the wrong end of a seven-goal thriller against Borussia Dortmund - 4-3 - at Signal Iduna Park on Sunday.
Heading into the resumption of the current campaign, Augsburg could not continue their momentum after defeating Wolfsburg in a friendly on January 14, as the 2011-12 Bundesliga winners were left celebrating at the sound of referee Frank Willenborg's whistle at full time.
Victorious twice in the last three head-to-head encounters, the Bavaria-based club will set their sights on finally giving their supporters something to celebrate on Wednesday night.
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Borussia Monchengladbach are in eighth position in the standings, six points adrift of Dortmund, who occupy the final European qualification position.
Daniel Farke's side have been victorious in the same number of matches - six - that they have lost throughout this season, but have still scored the joint-fourth highest number of goals - 31 - prior to the midweek round of games.
Seeking their first appearance in a UEFA-organised competition since participating in the last 16 of the 2020-21 Champions League campaign, Gladbach will be confident of condemning Augsburg to further relegation trepidation on Wednesday, despite suffering a 3-2 defeat at the hands of Bayer Leverkusen on Sunday.
Despite giving Xavi Alonso's side a late fright following a brace from second-half substitute Lars Stindl, the hosts were left to ponder what could have been on a disappointing night for the Foals at Borussia-Park.
Team News
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Borussia Monchengladbach manager Daniel Farke will again enlist his trust in Nathan Ngoumou to lead the line, with Alassane Plea, Christoph Kramer and Jonas Hofmann providing support from in behind.
After netting twice in the concluding stages on Sunday, Foals' captain Lars Stindl could be restored to the starting lineup for the trip to the WWK Arena at the expense of either Kouadio Kone or Benfica loanee Julian Weigl.
Augsburg boss Enrico Maassen could change his starting XI off the back of their defeat at home to Borussia Dortmund.
Following his appearance off the substitutes' bench on Sunday, Fredrik Jensen could be restored to the Fuggerstadter 11 in place of the injured Ruben Vargas.
Ermedin Demirovic is expected to again lead the line alongside regular strike partner Dion Drena Beljo.
Augsburg possible starting lineup:
Gikiewicz; Gouweleeuw, Gumny, Uduokhai, Pederson; Rexhbecaj, Maier, Engels, Jensen; Beljo, Demirovic
Borussia Monchengladbach possible starting lineup:
Omlin; Lainer, Bensebaini, Elvedi, Itakura; Stindl, Kone; Hofmann, Kramer, Plea; Ngoumou
We say: Augsburg 1-1 Borussia Monchengladbach
With both sides pursuing different goals at opposite ends of the Bundesliga standings, we predict a highly-entertaining end-to-end affair at the WWK Arena culminating in a share of the spoils on Wednesday evening.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
