Borussia Monchengladbach will be aiming to build on gaining their first league victory of the season last time out when they host Mainz 05 on Friday night.

Mainz, meanwhile, head into the encounter bottom of the Bundesliga after collecting just one point from their opening six matches.

Match preview

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Having failed to win any of his opening five league games since replacing Daniel Farke as Gladbach's manager during the summer, Gerardo Seoane would have been the most relieved man in the stadium when his side defeated VfL Bochum 3-1 away from home last weekend.

Florian Neuhaus got the visitors up and running by scoring in the 27th minute, before Alassane Plea's brace gave them a commanding half-time lead at Vonovia Ruhrstadion. In an incredibly open encounter, Anthony Losilla pulled one back with 22 minutes of normal time remaining, but Die Fohlen stood firm to hold onto all three points.

The former Bayer Leverkusen boss inherited a difficult situation having seen key players Marcus Thuram and Ramy Bensebaini depart to Inter Milan and Borussia Dortmund respectively on free transfers, while Germany winger Jonas Hofmann was sold to Seoane's former club for a relatively small fee in comparison to the 30-year-old's clear star quality.

However, more will be expected from Seoane and his players regardless in the coming months, with a mid-table finish likely to be their realistic aim once again having finished 10th in each of the last two seasons.

They will head into their contest against Mainz on Friday with much more confidence after finally ending their winless streak, with the match at Borussia-Park providing an excellent opportunity to put more distance between themselves and the relegation zone.

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Having finished in eighth and ninth places in their two full seasons under Bo Svensson's management, Mainz would have had aspirations of claiming a third successive top-half finish, but their targets are likely to have been lowered after enduring an extremely difficult start to the season.

Their 3-0 loss to in-form Leverkusen last time out was their fifth defeat in six matches, with their 1-1 draw at home against 10-men Eintracht Frankfurt in late August the only time that they have managed to avoid defeat in the Bundesliga so far this season.

Svensson's previous sterling work since being appointed in January 2021 should buy the former Denmark international plenty of time to turn things around, especially with the likes of FC Koln, Bochum and newly-promoted sides Heidenheim and SV Darmstadt 98 unlikely to put together strong runs of form and pull away from them in the table.

However, Svensson and his players will not want to be relying on favours from elsewhere to improve their situation, and they will view their trip to Monchengladbach on Friday as a decent chance to claim their first league victory of the campaign.

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Theoson Siebatcheu and Nico Elvedi are both doubts for the hosts after being withdrawn during their side's victory against Bochum due to knocks, while Jonas Omlin is definitely ruled out with a shoulder injury.

Tomas Cvancara and Marvin Friedrich came on as Siebatcheu's and Elvedi's respective replacements and would likely do so from the outset on Friday should they both be ruled out, but Seoane will be giving them every chance to recover in time in hope of naming an unchanged starting XI.

Mainz, meanwhile, will travel without Phillipp Mwene, Nelson Weiper, Andreas Hanche-Olsen, Maxim Leistch, Silvan Widmer and Jonathan Burkardt due to injury, with Svensson's options to freshen things up clearly diminished.

However, he does have forward options in the form of Marco Richter, Ludovic Ajorque and former Aston Villa winger Anwar El Ghazi to call upon should he wish to improve his side's attacking output after scoring just two goals across four successive defeats in recent weeks. They may be needed with Karim Onisiwo also representing a selection doubt due to a knock.

Borussia Monchengladbach possible starting lineup:
Nicolas; Elvedi, Itakura, Wober; Honorat, Reitz, Weigl, Neuhaus, Netz; Plea, Cvancara

Mainz 05 possible starting lineup:
Zentner; Bell, Kohr, Fernandes; Da Costa, Barreiro, Krauss, Caci; Onisiwo, Richter; Ajorque

We say: Borussia Monchengladbach 2-1 Mainz 05

Gladbach will have taken plenty of confidence from beating Bochum, who are the only team in the Bundesliga to have accrued as few points as Mainz so far this season, and we can envisage making it two straight wins on Friday.

Svensson's side have enough individual quality within their squad to turn things round sooner rather than later, but they may need the upcoming international break to regroup and help some of their injured players recover before that happens.

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