A week on from claiming the joint-biggest Bundesliga victory in their history, Augsburg welcome Heidenheim to the WWK Arena on Saturday afternoon.
FCH will be seeking revenge against Die Fuggerstadter after they suffered a 5-2 home defeat in the reverse fixture five months ago.
Match preview
© Reuters
For just the second time this season, Augsburg celebrated back-to-back Bundesliga victories after following up a 2-1 win over Freiburg with a thumping 6-0 triumph away against basement club SV Darmstadt 98 last weekend, keeping their first clean sheet of the campaign in the process.
A catalogue of defensive errors from the hosts helped Die Fuggerstadter race into a five-goal lead after just 29 minutes at Merck-Stadion am Bollenfalltor, with Ermedin Demirovic netting twice, before Phillip Tietz added a sixth with his second goal of the afternoon late in the second half.
Jess Thorup's men are understandably in buoyant mood as successive Bundesliga wins have enabled them to leapfrog Saturday's opponents Heidenheim into 10th place in the table, and they now sit 12 points clear of the bottom three as well as eight points behind the top six with 10 matches remaining.
After narrowly avoiding relegation last season, Augsburg are targeting their first top-half finish for nine years this term and know that a victory this weekend could see them climb up to as high as eighth spot if other results go their way.
Thorup celebrated his first victory as Augsburg boss when they came from two goals down to beat Heidenheim 5-2 in the aforementioned reverse fixture, and they will fancy their chances of claiming another three points this weekend considering the recent form of their opponents.
Indeed, Heidenheim have won only one of their first eight Bundesliga games in 2024 and have failed to come out on top in each of their last three matches, including a 2-1 home defeat to Eintracht Frankfurt last weekend.
Frankfurt's two-goal lead was halved when substitute Marvin Pieringer pulled one back for FCH just before the hour mark, but the hosts were unable to salvage a point and had to settle for their 10th defeat of the season.
Nevertheless, Frank Schmidt's side are in no immediate danger of returning to the second tier and are on course for a respectable mid-table finish in their first-ever Bundesliga campaign, as they sit 11 points clear of the relegation zone with 10 games left to play.
Having failed to win any of their last four home games, Heidenheim will welcome a trip to WWK Arena this weekend as they have not lost any of their last five top-flight away matches, picking up nine points in the process.
Team News
© Reuters
Augsburg trio Raphael Framberger (knee), Patric Pfeiffer (hip) and Reece Oxford (illness) all remain in the treatment room, while Mads Pedersen will serve the third and final game of his three-match suspension this weekend.
Iago is expected to continue at left-back in the absence of Pedersen, joining Jeffrey Gouweleeuw, Felix Uduokhai and Kevin Mbabu in a four-man defence.
Top scorer Demirovic has found the net 14 times this season, including six goals in his last six games, and the Bosnian is set to be joined in attack by Tietz, with Ruben Vargas operating just behind in the number 10 role.
As for Heidenheim, Elidon Qenaj and Thomas Keller remain sidelined with long-term knee injuries, while Lennard Maloney (knee) and Jan-Niklas Beste (hamstring) are both doubtful and will be assessed ahead of kickoff.
A back four of Marnon-Thomas Busch, Patrick Mainka, Benedikt Gimber and Jonas Fohrenbach is set to remain intact, with Jan Schoppner playing alongside Kevin Sessa in centre-midfield.
Omar Traore could be handed another start on the right flank as Eren Dinkci continues on the left, while Pieringer, Adrian Beck and Nikola Dovedan are all set to battle for a start in the number 10 role behind Tim Kleindienst, who has scored just one goal in his last eight appearances.
Augsburg possible starting lineup:
Dahmen; Mbabu, Gouweleeuw, Uduokhai, Iago; Jensen, Jakic, Maier; Vargas; Tietz, Demirovic
Heidenheim possible starting lineup:
Muller; Busch, Mainka, Gimber, Fohrenbach; Sessa, Schoppner; Traore, Dovedan, Dinkci; Kleindienst
We say: Augsburg 2-2 Heidenheim
Both teams will be motivated to collect maximum points this weekend, as victory for either side would all but guarantee survival for next season and boost their hopes of finishing the campaign in the top half of the table.
Augsburg got the better of Heidenheim the last time that these two teams met, but we can see the visitors, who have been strong away from home in recent weeks, claiming a share of the spoils in an entertaining affair this time around.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
