St. Pauli vs. Borussia Mönchengladbach preview: Two teams in need of three points

St. Pauli and Borussia Mönchengladbach will both be desperate to claim all three points when they lock horns in Saturday’s Bundesliga contest.

St. Pauli

St. Pauli started their Bundesliga campaign with two wins and one defeat, but they have since experienced a dramatic downturn in fortunes. Alexander Blessin’s side have lost five consecutive matches since they beat Augsburg on September 14, including a 2-0 defeat in last Saturday’s away clash with Eintracht Frankfurt, leaving them in 14th spot and three points above the bottom three. 

That result represented the fourth time in five games where St. Pauli failed to trouble the scorers. They did at least rediscover their shooting boots in the midweek DFB-Pokal tie against Hoffenheim. Mathias Pereira Lage netted a dramatic equaliser in the 122nd minute to salvage a 2-2 draw after extra time and send the tie to penalties. St. Pauli prevailed 8-7 in a dramatic shootout to advance to the last-16 stage.

They will be looking for more success on Saturday, with the hosts searching for their first head-to-head victory since February 2011. The hosts will be desperate to strike first at Millerntor-Stadion, considering they have conceded the first goal in seven of their eight league games this season. 

Team News

The hosts remain without the injured David Nemeth, while Arkadiusz Pyrka is a doubt due to illness.

Predicted lineup: Vasilj; Wahl, Smith, Mets; Saliakas, Sands, Sinani, Fujita, Oppie; Kaars, Pereira Lage

Gladbach

Gladbach are the only team yet to win in the Bundesliga this season, having drawn three and lost five of their eight league matches this term. Die Fohlen fell to a 3-0 defeat to Bayern Munich in their most recent Bundesliga outing – a game which saw them reduced to 10 men following Jens Castrop’s 19th-minute red card. Gladbach battled valiantly to keep the scoreline goalless, but they were unable to hold out and conceded three goals in the final half an hour. As a result, they have now gone 15 Bundesliga matches without a win since RB Leipzig in March.

They did at least avoid an upset in Tuesday’s Pokal meeting with second-tier Karlsruher. Shuto Machino, Nico Elvedi and Haris Tabaković all found the net in a 3-1 victory, representing Eugen Polanski’s first win as interim boss. 

Gladbach will be desperate to build upon that result on Saturday, with Polanski’s side languishing at the bottom of the table with four points separating them from safety. While they may have a poor defensive record, die Fohlen will also be concerned by the fact that they are the league’s lowest scorers with just six goals.

They have tended to be slow starters this season, having scored just one goal in the opening hour of their eight Bundesliga matches. 

Team News

The visitors are without the injured quartet of Fabio Chiarodia, Robin Hack, Nathan Ngoumou and Tim Kleindienst, while Castrop is suspended following his dismissal against Bayern last weekend. 

Predicted lineup: Nicolas; Sander, Elvedi, Diks; Honorat, Reitz, Engelhardt, Netz; Machino, Stöger, Tabaković