VfL Bochum will be looking to extend their unbeaten run to six matches when they face Hoffenheim in Friday's Bundesliga meeting.
In contrast to the visitors, Hoffenheim are currently experiencing a poor spell of form, having failed to win any of their last five games across all competitions.
Match preview
© Reuters
After beginning the campaign with seven wins in 10 competitive matches, Hoffenheim have experienced a drop off in form in recent weeks, drawing two and losing three of their previous five games.
Hoffenheim's poor run of results began with consecutive defeats to Borussia Dortmund and Bayer Leverkusen in the DFB-Pokal and Bundesliga respectively, before they went on to play out two straight draws against Augsburg and Mainz.
Instead of building upon those two draws, Pellegrino Matarazzo's side fell to a narrow 2-1 defeat against Borussia Monchengladbach last weekend, with the result representing their first away loss of the Bundesliga season.
Die Kraichgauer, who currently occupy sixth position, will now return to PreZero Arena, where they have picked up just four of their 20 points this season, leaving them with the joint-worst home record alongside Koln, Mainz and Union Berlin.
Although they have failed to deliver in front of their supporters this season, Hoffenheim picked up three points in their most recent home meeting with Bochum in August 2022, fighting back from two goals down to claim a dramatic 3-2 victory.
© Reuters
Bochum have recovered from a poor start to the season to collect nine points from their last five matches, taking their total tally to 12 points.
Thomas Letsch's side took a point off Mainz and claimed all the spoils against Darmstadt, before they saw meetings with Koln and Heidenheim finish up all square.
In their most recent outing, goals from Patrick Osterhage, Bernardo and Christopher Antwi-Adjei guided Bochum to an impressive 3-1 victory over Wolfsburg at Vonovia Ruhrstadion – a result that ended their long wait for their first home win of the Bundesliga season.
After moving four points clear of the bottom three, 12th-placed Bochum now have the opportunity to claim consecutive league victories for the first time since beating Koln and RB Leipzig in March.
While they may have lost out on their last trip to the PreZero Arena, their recent head-to-head record makes for positive reading, having won four of their last five meetings, including a commanding 5-2 victory when the two sides met in February's home fixture.
Team News
© Reuters
Hoffenheim are still unable to call upon the injured quartet of Bambase Conte, Marco John, Dennis Geiger and Mergim Berisha, while Kevin Akpoguma will serve a one-match suspension for yellow card accumulation.
There is also uncertainty surrounding the availability of defender Ozan Kabak, who is struggling with a hip problem.
Midfielder Grischa Promel is set to return to the starting lineup after missing the narrow defeat to Gladbach through suspension.
As for the visitors, their lengthy injury list features Michael Esser, Noah Loosli, Ivan Ordets, Danilo Soares, Mohammed Tolba and Lys Mousset.
They will also be without the services of centre-back Keven Schlotterbeck, who will serve a one-match suspension after picking up his fifth yellow card of the season last weekend.
Slovenia international Matus Bero is set to start consecutive games after returning from injury to play 71 valuable minutes in the 3-1 win over Wolfsburg.
Hoffenheim possible starting lineup:
Baumann; Vogt, Brooks, Szalai; Kaderabek, Promel, Stach, Kramaric, Bulter; Beier, Weghorst
VfL Bochum possible starting lineup:
Reimann; Gamboa, Masovic, Bernardo, Wittek; Osterhage, Losilla; Bero, Stoger, Asano; Hofmann
We say: Hoffenheim 1-1 VfL Bochum
Although Hoffenheim will be desperate to return to winning ways, they will go up against a Bochum side that has proven to be a tough team to beat in recent weeks.
We think that Bochum will do enough to frustrate their hosts and take a point from Friday's fixture, especially after drawing three of their last five matches.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
