RB Leipzig will be looking to make it back-to-back victories under their new manager when they visit Augsburg in the Bundesliga on Wednesday evening.
The hosts have picked up their form in recent weeks but remain near the foot of the table, where the visitors are back in contention for the European places following a big win at the weekend.
Match preview
© Reuters
Three wins from their last six Bundesliga games, following just one win from the opening nine, has meant that Augsburg have avoided dropping into the relegation places of late.
However, with fellow relegation candidates Stuttgart and VfL Bochum picking up victories in recent weeks too, Markus Weinzierl's side remain in the relegation playoff spot of 16th heading into the midweek round of matches.
A lack of creativity and clinical finishing in the final third had been the reason for Fuggerstadter's troubles in the early stages of the campaign, where just five goals had been scored across those opening nine games.
With 11 being netted across the next six though, the relegation-threatened side have given themselves a chance of avoiding the drop in recent weeks.
The most recent of these two goals were scored at FC Koln's RheinEnergieStadion on Friday evening, where Augsburg put in a solid team display to defeat their opponents 2-0, which ended the division's only remaining unbeaten home record, as well as providing themselves with their first away win of the campaign, in the process.
Andre Hahn scored midway through the second half to give his side the lead, before Niklas Dorsch's screamer late on sealed all three points in an impressive victory all around.
© Reuters
Meanwhile, Leipzig's new era under Domenico Tedesco began with a thumping 4-1 win over Borussia Monchengladbach on Saturday to lift Die Roten Bullen into seventh place ahead of matchday 16.
Josko Gvardiol and Andre Silva netted in the first half to provide Tedesco a comfortable 2-0 lead at half time, and despite Ramy Bensebaini pulling a goal back for their opponents late on, Christopher Nkunku and Benjamin Henrichs netted in stoppage time to seal a scoreline that their dominance deserved.
Were it not for some questionable finishing in front of goal at times, an even bigger victory would have been achieved, but the new boss could not have wished for a much better start to his time in charge though.
However, home form has not been the issue for Leipzig and their former manager Jesse Marsch for much of this campaign so far, with results on their travels being a huge concern instead.
The expected title challengers are still yet to win in their seven away days to date, and with just four goals being netted in the process, this is the primary reason for Leipzig's lowly league position at this stage.
Tedesco will view Wednesday's trip to a relegation-threatened side as an ideal opportunity to put that right at the first time of asking for himself, and all three points could pull his side to within two points of the Champions League places, despite the poor start to the 2021-22 campaign.
- W
- L
- W
- D
- L
- W
- D
- W
- L
- L
- L
- W
- L
- W
- L
- L
- W
- W
Team News
© Reuters
Augsburg will have to do without captain Jeffrey Gouweleeuw on Wednesday, with the central defender picking up his fifth booking of the season last time out at Koln.
However, Reece Oxford's return to fitness was well timed, after a lack of options in that area of the pitch in recent weeks.
Raphael Framberger could come in at right full-back, which would see Robert Gumny move inside to cover for their absent skipper at the heart of the defence.
Options in the forward line remain low though, with Florian Niederlechner out until the new year, and he is joined on the sidelines by Andi Zeqiri and Alfred Finnbogason, whilst Tobias Strobl and Felix Uduokhai are the other missing defenders.
As for the visitors, Tedesco could name an unchanged starting lineup following their impressive victory in his first game in charge.
Marcel Halstenberg and Marcelo Saracchi are long-term absentees in defence, whilst Lukas Klostermann is also expected to miss out as well.
Amadou Haidara should remain out until the new year along with Dani Olmo, Yussuf Poulsen and Hugo Novoa.
Augsburg possible starting lineup:
Gikiewicz; Framberger, Gumny, Oxford, Iago; Caligiuri, Moravek, Dorsch, Vargas; Hahn, Gregoritsch
RB Leipzig possible starting lineup:
Gulacsi; Simakan, Orban, Gvardiol; Mukiele, Laimer, Kampl, Angelino; Nkunku, Forsberg; Silva
We say: Augsburg 0-2 RB Leipzig
The impact of Tedesco at Leipzig was instant at the weekend, with the Red Bulls looking back to their attacking best.
Because of this, as well as the lower quality of their opponents, who are also missing a number of defenders and forwards, we are predicting an away win at the WWK Arena on Wednesday.
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 RB Leipzig win with a probability of 67.97%. A draw had a probability of 17.7% and a win for Augsburg had a probability of 14.34%.
The most likely scoreline for a RB Leipzig win was 1-2 with a probability of 9.6%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 0-2 (9.41%) and 0-1 (7.82%). The likeliest drawn scoreline was 1-1 (7.98%), while for an Augsburg win it was 2-1 (4.07%). The actual scoreline of 1-1 was predicted with a 8% likelihood.
