RB Leipzig begin their era under a new head coach when they welcome Borussia Monchengladbach to the Red Bull Arena on Saturday.
The hosts head into the Bundesliga encounter on the back of three successive defeats in the league, whilst the visitors have lost their last two themselves, conceding 10 goals in the process.
Match preview
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Following losses to Hoffenheim, Bayer Leverkusen and Union Berlin over the past few weeks, Leipzig and Jesse Marsch decided to part ways following the defeat in Berlin last Sunday.
Under the American, things had not gone to plan after his replacement of the departed Julian Nagelsmann in the summer, with a Champions League exit being coupled with a disappointing 11th-placed position domestically heading into matchday 15 this weekend.
Achim Beierlorzer took temporary charge for the 2-1 win over Manchester City in the week, and although home form has not been the main issue this campaign, there was a notable difference in the performance by Die Roten Bullen against the English champions.
Dominik Szoboszlai and Andre Silva netted on Tuesday evening, with the three points meaning that Leipzig do at least fall into the Europa League knockout stages following their confirmed exit just four group fixtures in.
Since then however, Beierlorzer has left the club in order to make way for new head coach Domenico Tedesco, who was appointed on Thursday.
The former Spartak Moscow boss comes into a side that has picked up 15 of its 18 Bundesliga points at the Red Bull Arena so far, so will be confident of beginning his tenure with a vital win to lift Leipzig back towards the European places.
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Meanwhile, Adi Hutter's position as head coach of Saturday's visitors Monchengladbach is under serious pressure itself ahead of their trip to Leipzig.
Following his summer arrival as well, the Austrian was expected to challenge for a return to European football this campaign, but in a similar manner to their opponents, performances and results have not been ideal to date.
Away form remains a serious issue as well heading into another away day this weekend, with just four points picked up from a possible 21 on the road by Hutter's men so far.
The most recent of those struggles came in a Rhineland derby at neighbours FC Koln two weeks ago, where Die Fohlen were humbled 4-1 by their rivals at the RheinEnergieStadion.
A reaction would have been expected following that defeat; however, Gladbach were on the wrong end of an incredible scoreline last weekend when they returned to Borussia-Park.
Freiburg were the visitors and in breathtaking fashion, put six goals past their hosts inside the opening 37 minutes during an astonishing Bundesliga fixture.
Fortunately for Gladbach, their opponents eased up after that and the scoreline remained at 6-0, but the pressure will be mounting on Hutter and his squad to turn things around in the coming weeks, with a victory over Leipzig being a difficult task to achieve on Saturday.
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Team News
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The hosts' recent COVID-19 problems have eased over the past week, with Willi Orban and Hugo Novoa the only remaining victims expected to be suffering from the virus.
However, other injury problems have mounted since then as well, with Amadou Haidara, Dani Olmo and Yussuf Poulsen being added to the list of absentees recently.
Defenders Marcel Halstenberg and Marcelo Saracchi remain long-term absentees, although the former is nearing a return ahead of the winter break.
As for the visitors, Jordan Beyer looks to be the only injury concern for Hutter to deal with ahead of the trip to Leipzig, with the young German defender expected to be out for around another week due to a tendon injury.
Numerous changes will be expected on Saturday following the 6-0 thrashing last weekend, which could see the likes of Patrick Herrmann, Lars Stindl, Florian Neuhaus and Breel Embolo introduced from the start.
RB Leipzig possible starting lineup:
Gulacsi; Mukiele, Klostermann, Gvardiol, Angelino; Laimer, Adams; Nkunku, Forsberg, Szoboszlai; Silva
Borussia Monchengladbach possible starting lineup:
Sommer; Ginter, Elvedi, Bensebaini; Herrmann, Neuhaus, Kone, Scally; Hofmann, Stindl; Embolo
We say: RB Leipzig 2-1 Borussia Monchengladbach
Neither side head into this encounter on a decent run of form, but due to Leipzig's strong showings at home despite their troubles, coupled with Gladbach's struggles on the road, we are predicting a home win.
Goals are probably to be expected in an open game, but there would be no surprises to see the visitors try to tighten up following their thrashings in their past two matches.
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 RB Leipzig win with a probability of 54.25%. A win for Borussia Monchengladbach had a probability of 24.09% and a draw had a probability of 21.7%.
The most likely scoreline for a RB Leipzig win was 2-1 with a probability of 9.66%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 1-0 (7.64%) and 2-0 (7.62%). The likeliest Borussia Monchengladbach win was 1-2 (6.14%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 1-1 (9.69%). The actual scoreline of 4-1 was predicted with a 3.2% likelihood. Our team at Sports Mole and our data analysis both correctly predicted that RB Leipzig would win this match.
