Mainz 05 will be aiming to end a winless streak of six league games when they host Wolfsburg in the Bundesliga on Saturday.
The visitors, meanwhile, lost seven of their last 10 league matches prior to the winter break, falling into the bottom half of the table in the process.
Match preview
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Mainz ended the calendar year inside the relegation places, albeit their impressive 1-1 draw away to Borussia Dortmund ensured that they moved above FC Koln into the relegation playoff spot rather than remaining in the automatic places.
However, Die Nullfunfer have managed to win just once in their opening 16 matches, which is fewer than any other team in the division.
They moved to sack Bo Svensson in early November, with former Huddersfield Town boss Jan Siewert initially drafted in as Svensson's replacement on an interim basis. Siewert has since been announced as the club's permanent manager.
Considering that the 41-year-old has not claimed a victory since his opening game against RB Leipzig, this decision may be a little surprising to some. That said, Mainz have only conceded four goals in Siewert's seven matches in charge, suggesting they should be defensively strong enough to eventually move away from danger.
On the flipside, only Koln have scored fewer goals than their tally of 13; indeed, since that surprising 2-0 win against Leipzig, Siewert's side have scored just twice across six fixtures, and he will desperately be hoping this figure increases against Wolfsburg on Saturday.
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Considering that Wolfsburg have conceded 18 goals in eight matches on the road so far this season, their chances of keeping a clean sheet appear to be relatively slim.
However, despite Maxence Lacroix seeing red early on, the Wolves did manage to contain SV Darmstadt 98 away from home in their penultimate game before the break.
They followed that win up with a reasonably respectable 2-1 defeat at home to Bayern Munich five days before Christmas, when Jamal Musiala and Harry Kane fired the visitors into a two-goal lead and Niko Kovac's side could not find a crucial equaliser against the Croatian's former team despite Maximilian Arnold pulling one back before half time.
Having collapsed on the final day of last season at home to already-relegated Hertha Berlin to fall outside of the European qualification places, Kovac may feel that he is under pressure to improve results.
Claiming just seven points from their last 10 matches has seen Wolfsburg fall five points adrift of sixth-placed Eintracht Frankfurt and seventh-placed Hoffenheim ahead of this weekend's action.
As such, Kovac and his players will be keen to start 2024 off with a positive result against their struggling opponents on Saturday. They simply can not afford another run as poor as they have just gone through if they are to achieve their objectives for the campaign.
Team News
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Mainz will remain without Nelson Weiper until at least next month, as the midfielder underwent knee surgery last year.
Stefan Bell is a slight doubt due to suffering with a cold, but otherwise Siewert should have a full squad at his disposal.
Karim Onisiwo returned to lead the line against Dortmund last time out for his side, and the 31-year-old should receive the nod once again. Jonathan Burkardt will be hoping to be recalled to the starting XI.
Wolfsburg, meanwhile, will travel without Lacroix, who misses another match through suspension after his red card against Darmstadt.
Amin Sarr, Patrick Wimmer and Lukas Nmecha all remain sidelined by knee injuries, while Ridle Baku may not feature due to illness.
If that proves to be the case, Denmark full-back Joachim Maehle may switch to his natural side, with Rogerio coming in at left wing-back. Otherwise, Kovac may pick the same starting XI that narrowly fell to defeat against Bayern.
Mainz 05 possible starting lineup:
Batz; Kohr, Bell, Van Den Berg; Widmer, Krauss, Lee, Mwene; Gruda, Richter; Onisiwo
Wolfsburg possible starting lineup:
Casteels; Bornauw, Jenz, Zesiger; Maehle, Arnold, Vranckx, Svanberg, Rogerio; Wind, Majer
We say: Mainz 05 1-1 Wolfsburg
Neither side were scoring freely prior to the winter break, and it is difficult to imagine things changing much here. The respective teamsheets could prove telling, as if either manager opts to switch from a back five to a back four, that could suggest a more offensive gameplan.
Given Mainz's precarious position in the table and Wolfsburg's poor away form this season, we can envisage these sides sharing the spoils. This would represent a reasonably positive start to 2024 for both teams.
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