RB Leipzig will be looking to put their midweek Champions League disappointment behind them when they welcome bottom-of-the-table Greuther Furth to the Red Bull Arena on Saturday.
The hosts have lacked consistency in the Bundesliga at the start of the campaign and will be expected to record a comfortable victory against their newly-promoted visitors, who are yet to win on their return to the top flight.
Match preview
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Die Roten Bullen endured another miserable European night in the week, when they eventually fell 3-2 to Paris Saint-Germain in France, which made it three straight defeats in the group stages of the Champions League.
After conceding early on to Kylian Mbappe, Leipzig bounced back through Andre Silva and Nordi Mukiele goals in each half, with the Germans causing their French opposition numerous problems throughout and were perhaps unfortunate not to kill the game off with further goals.
A brace from Lionel Messi was enough to down Leipzig despite the positive performance, but attentions must quickly turn back to league competition, where they have also struggled, under their new manager Jesse Marsch.
Home form has not been the issue for the American boss so far, with just the heavy defeat to reigning champions Bayern Munich being the only blip in an otherwise 100% home record in the Bundesliga in 2021-22.
Being winless in their four away trips has caused a case of inconsistency for Leipzig though, which leaves last season's runners-up positioned way down in eighth place heading into the weekend.
With summer recruit Silva yet to fire on all cylinders since his arrival, Christopher Nkunku has been bearing the load in most matches, with the Frenchman's eight goals across all competitions so far ensuring the new manager's start has not been a complete disaster.
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As for the visitors, they have managed to be consistent in their form so far this season, but unfortunately for them it has been consistently poor.
Few expected Greuther to spring too many surprises on their return to the Bundesliga, but seven defeats from their opening eight matches has made it a humiliating return to date.
After winning just four matches during their only previous stay in the top flight back in 2012-13, the Cloverleaves were immediately relegated in last place, and unless things change quickly, their stay could become even more miserable this time around.
Achieving a victory against their fellow newcomers VfL Bochum last weekend could have provided a small spark of hope for Stefan Leitl's side, but losing 1-0 on home soil to another side heavily expected to struggle too means morale could not be much lower at the club.
However, visits to teams like Leipzig were the kind of occasions that were hard earned during their unexpected promotion last campaign, so Leitl will not place any expectation on his players to achieve the unlikeliest of results, and will instead want them to enjoy the encounter.
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Team News
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After suffering a thigh injury in Paris in the week, Lukas Klostermann will be unavailable for the home side on Saturday, along with Amadou Haidara, who was also replaced because of injury in the second half.
The duo will join long-term absentees Marcel Halstenberg and Marcelo Saracchi on the sidelines, as well as young forward Brian Brobbey.
The influential Dani Olmo is also listed as a doubt for the visit of Greuther, with a hip injury keeping him out for the past month.
Meanwhile, for the away side, Paul Seguin will miss out after picking up his fifth yellow card of the season last weekend, which means he will serve a one-match suspension on Saturday.
Long-term absentees Jessic Ngankam and Robin Kehr remain out as well, along with Gideon Jung and Havard Nielsen, who are not expected back until next month.
RB Leipzig possible starting lineup:
Gulacsi; Simakan, Orban, Gvardiol; Mukiele, Laimer, Kampl, Angelino; Nkunku, Forsberg; Silva
Greuther Furth possible starting lineup:
Funk; Meyerhofer, Bauer, Viergever, Willems; Sarpei, Griesbeck, Tillman; Dudziak; Itten, Hrgota
We say: RB Leipzig 4-0 Greuther Furth
Despite the struggles of Leipzig so far this campaign, they will be expected to record a comfortable victory over their struggling opponents on Saturday.
Greuther are unlikely to trouble their hosts too much, so it will be more of a matter of damage limitation for them at the Red Bull Arena.
Top tip
Matthew Tranter
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 65.86%. A draw had a probability of 19% and a win for Greuther Furth had a probability of 15.14%.
The most likely scoreline for a RB Leipzig win was 2-0 with a probability of 10.14%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-1 (9.84%) and 1-0 (9.11%). The likeliest drawn scoreline was 1-1 (8.83%), while for a Greuther Furth win it was 1-2 (4.28%). The actual scoreline of 4-1 was predicted with a 4.1% likelihood. Our data analysis correctly predicted that RB Leipzig would win this match.
