Bochum vs St. Pauli preview: Bochum eye successive home win

Separated by eight points in the bottom half of the Bundesliga standings, bottom side Bochum welcome St. Pauli to Vonovia Ruhrstadion on Wednesday evening, with both sides looking to bounce back after losses at the weekend.

VfL Bochum

After overcoming Heidenheim prior to the winter break, Bochum failed to carry over their form into the new year, with Dieter Hecking’s men falling to a 2-0 defeat against Mainz. 

The defeat paints a dismal picture for Bochum as the second half of the campaign approaches, with eight points separating the club and Hoffenheim, who occupy 15th, alongside a seven-point gap to Heidenheim, who currently sit in the relegation playoff spot.

Bochum carry the hopes of a miraculous second half of the season after winning just once in the traditional fashion across 16 matches thus far. 

The club’s second win of the campaign arrived in rather controversial circumstances last week, with a DFB Sports Court ruling awarding the club three points from December’s 1-1 draw against Union Berlin.

After a lighter from the crowd struck goalkeeper Patrick Drewes, the original 1-1 scoreline was overturned in favour of the visitors, who retrospectively took three points in Berlin.

Hecking’s men carry the aim of collecting successive home wins for the first time since December 2023, however, it is required to go back to April of last year to find the club’s last home victory before Heidenheim’s visit before the break.

Team News

Dieter Hecking does not carry a large number of injury concerns into the fixture, however, Ivan Ordets, Mats Pannewig and Tim Oermann are all doubts. 

St. Pauli

Much alike Wednesday’s hosts, St. Pauli ended 2024 strongly, overcoming VfB Stuttgart on the road, before falling to a 1-0 defeat against Eintracht Frankfurt on their 2025 return.

Ending last year with an away win, however, does give more hope as the second half of the season approaches, with St. Pauli having a fantastic record on the road in comparison to that of their record at Millerntor-Stadion.

Nine of St. Pauli’s 14 points have been collected on the road, and after beating Stuttgart in December, the club now aims for successive top-flight away wins for the first time since 2010, when Die Kiezkicker overcame Borussia Mönchengladbach and Hannover. 

Team News

The injury record of the visitors is much higher in numbers in comparison to that of Bochum. 

Elias Saad, Johannes Eggestein and Karol Mets will all be assessed as the fixture draws closer. 

However, Lars Ritzka, Robert Wagner, Connor Metcalfe, Sascha Burchert, Simon Zoller and Soren Ahlers are all expected to miss the clash. 

In a direct statistical replacement, Morgan Guilavogui and Oladapo Afolayan will be relied upon in the final third, with both players netting two goals each this season, matching the tallies of Eggestein and Saad. 

The eight goals of Saad, Eggestein, Guilavogui and Afolayan make up almost three-quarters of St. Pauli’s goal tally, with the club being the Bundesliga’s lowest scorers with twelve.