Greuther Furth will welcome Arminia Bielefeld to the Trolli-Arena for their first home game of the 2021-22 Bundesliga season, as they look to respond after suffering a 5-1 loss against Stuttgart on the opening day.
The visitors will also be looking for their first three points after a goalless draw against Freiburg last week, with each squad aiming to climb up the league table.
Match preview
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Greuther Furth are enjoying life back in the Bundesliga for only the second time in their history and are aiming to go one better than their previous attempt in the 2012-13 season which saw them suffer relegation.
They only managed four victories in the Bundesliga during that campaign, which is a statistic that the club will have to improve if they have any chance of surviving and facing a team that struggled last year could provide the perfect chance to get the first.
Unfortunately, Stefan Leitl's squad had a difficult start to life in the top flight on the opening day, after suffering a heavy defeat against Stuttgart, with a 93rd-minute consolation goal from Jamie Leweling wrapping up the 5-1 loss.
This came off the back of being knocked out in the DFB-Pokal after a 2-2 draw against Babelsberg led to them being defeated via a penalty shootout in a surprise loss against the amateur team.
Greuther Furth have not actually won a game of football since the final day of last season, with pre-season seeing the team suffer three losses and a draw, which did not provide the best preparation.
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While the hosts have had a tough start to the new campaign, Arminia Bielefeld managed to earn a point in their first game which proved to be a stalemate.
Despite the fact it was a rather uneventful draw against Freiburg, Frank Kramer will be pleased to have seen his team get a point on the board, with the club currently sitting in 11th place.
Saturday will see them travel away from home for the first time this season in the league and Arminia Bielefeld will be aiming to improve upon the three wins they managed on the road last year in the Bundesliga.
The previous three meetings between these teams have brought guaranteed goals, with a couple of 2-2 draws taking place, while the last time they competed it was Arminia Bielefeld who walked away with the victory in a six-goal thriller, winning 4-2.
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Team News
After a poor start to the season, there is a good chance that Leitl will look to bring plenty of changes to the side in a bid to improve their fortunes this time out.
One of those alterations could see Leweling find a spot in the starting lineup on Saturday after he came from the bench to find the back of the net against Stuttgart.
Greuther Furth will likely still be without Jessic Ngankam who is out with a knee problem, while Robin Kehr also missed the first game of the season with a groin injury.
Full-backs Simon Asta and Elias Kratzer are also unavailable at the moment through injury, which means that Gideon Jung will retain his place in the team.
For Arminia Bielefeld there could be a new man in between the posts this time around after the club completed the signing of Stefanos Kapino from Werder Bremen last week, with the experienced goalkeeper signing a two-year deal.
However, after a strong performance on the first game of the season, there is little reason for too many changes, although after making a substitute appearance there could be the opportunity to start for Mike van der Hoorn.
Greuther Furth possible starting lineup:
Burchert; Jung, Bauer, Hoogma; Meyerhofer, Leweling, Green, Itter, Segiun; Nielsen, Hrgota
Arminia Bielefeld possible starting lineup:
Kapino; Van Der Hoorn, Nilsson, Laursen, Brunner; Prietl, Schopf, Kunze, Okugawa; Klos, Lasme
We say: Greuther Furth 0-1 Arminia Bielefeld
This is a fixture between two of the favourites for relegation, therefore it will prove to be a crucial match for both teams, but with Greuther Furth in poor form, the advantage is there for the visitors.
Coming into the game with a DFB-Pokal victory and a draw in the first game of the season should provide Arminia Bielefeld with enough confidence to earn the win here, in what could be a close game.
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 Greuther Furth win with a probability of 57.3%. A win for Arminia Bielefeld had a probability of 21.36% and a draw had a probability of 21.3%.
The most likely scoreline for a Greuther Furth win was 2-1 with a probability of 9.85%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-0 (8.5%) and 1-0 (8.42%). The likeliest Arminia Bielefeld win was 1-2 (5.64%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 1-1 (9.75%). The actual scoreline of 1-1 was predicted with a 9.7% likelihood.
