Borussia Monchengladbach take on Mainz 05 in the Bundesliga on Saturday, with the hosts looking to breathe new life into their campaign having failed to win their last three league games.
Mainz, meanwhile, have improved under their new manager Bo Svensson, taking seven points from their last four matches to move to within four points of safety in the table.
Match preview
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One of football's worst kept secrets was confirmed as official during the week: Gladbach manager Marco Rose will depart for Borussia Dortmund at the end of the current campaign.
Where exactly this leaves the Foals is unclear, with stuttering form of late hardly likely to be helped by the revelation that they will lose the manager who guided them back into the Champions League and through the group stages this campaign.
However, the players must remain professional, with a six-point gap between themselves and recent opponents Wolfsburg in fourth place far from unassailable. Indeed, last weekend's 0-0 draw at their top four rivals proved to be a good point in the end, with Oliver Glasner's side dominating a fairly cagey game.
Rose largely had Yann Sommer to thank for keeping his side level, particularly when denying Kevin Mbabu's flicked header with superb reflexes in the early exchanges. After a flying start from the Wolves, Gladbach did manage to gain a foothold in the game without ever looking like scoring, and were mightily relieved to see the lively Xaver Schlager's effort from distance sail into the side-netting late on.
Mainz at home represents a good chance to build a solid foundation for the rest of the season, especially with an exciting Champions League knockout tie against Manchester City around the corner, but three points must not be taken for granted against a side improving under Svensson.
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Indeed, while Gladbach were reasonably satisfied with their draw at Wolfsburg, their relief was nothing compared to Mainz's after their dramatic 2-2 draw at Bayer Leverkusen last weekend.
Lucas Alario had prodded the hosts ahead in the early exchanges after superb wing play by Moussa Diaby, but as has been the case throughout Svensson's brief time in charge so far, Mainz's heads did not drop as they pushed for an equaliser.
The visitors struggled to create anything of note, though, and any chance of gaining a positive result looked to have ended when Patrik Schick combined superb strength and composure to double Leverkusen's lead with only six minutes of normal time remaining.
However, Mainz's new found spirit was on full display when defender Moussa Niakhate contributed at the other end of the pitch once again, playing a delicately dinked through ball to Robert Glatzel for the striker's first goal for the club.
Deep in injury time, a fairly harmless cross was poorly cleared by Sven Bender, with the loose ball falling to Kevin Stoger to snatch a dramatic equaliser which moves Mainz to within four points of safety ahead of their trip to Monchengladbach.
Borussia Monchengladbach Bundesliga form: DWWDLD
Borussia Monchengladbach form (all competitions): WWDWLD
Mainz 05 Bundesliga form: DLWLWD
Team News
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Gladbach are likely to remain without Marcus Thuram and Denis Zakaria due to their respective knee injuries.
Rose does not appear to have any other issues to contend with, but may elect to rest a few key players ahead of Wednesday's clash against Man City.
Mainz, meanwhile, are set to travel to Monchengladbach without Robert Quaison and Edmilson Fernandes due to injury.
Substitutes Glatzel and Stoger will both be hoping that their late goals at Leverkusen will earn them a starting berth.
Borussia Monchengladbach possible starting lineup:
Sommer; Lainer, Ginter, Elvedi, Wendt; Kramer, Neuhaus; Lazaro, Plea, Herrmann; Embolo
Mainz 05 possible starting lineup:
Zentner; St. Juste, Bell, Niakhate; Da Costa, Barreiro, Kohr, Mwene; Latza; Glatzel, Szalai
We say: Borussia Monchengladbach 2-1 Mainz 05
We can envisage a narrow victory for Gladbach, but it is unlikely to come easily against a Mainz side building confidence with every positive result under Svensson.
It will be interesting to see how the hosts perform after the news regarding their manager Rose, but the tantalising forthcoming Champions League tie against Man City should keep them honest for the time being.
Top tip
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 Borussia Monchengladbach win with a probability of 58.23%. A draw had a probability of 21.3% and a win for Mainz 05 had a probability of 20.5%.
The most likely scoreline for a Borussia Monchengladbach win was 2-1 with a probability of 9.89%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-0 (8.86%) and 1-0 (8.77%). The likeliest drawn scoreline was 1-1 (9.8%), while for a Mainz 05 win it was 1-2 (5.47%). The actual scoreline of 1-2 was predicted with a 5.5% likelihood.
