St. Pauli vs. Holstein Kiel preview: Two promoted sides lock horns

Two newly-promoted sides will face off when St. Pauli welcome Holstein Kiel to Millerntor-Stadion for Friday’s Bundesliga contest.

St. Pauli

After taking eight points from 11 matches, St. Pauli are sitting in the relegation playoff spot, with a three-point cushion over 17th-placed Kiel. St. Pauli have mustered just two league victories on their return to the top flight, with the most recent of those wins taking place against Hoffenheim at the start of November. Unfortunately for Alexander Blessin, his side have been unable to add to their points tally since that result, having fallen to back-to-back defeats without scoring.

St. Pauli fought valiantly in a narrow 1-0 defeat to leaders Bayern Munich, before they slumped to a 2-0 loss in last Sunday’s away meeting with Borussia Mönchengladbach. After losing at Borussia-Park, St. Pauli will now return to Millerntor-Stadion, as they look to end the wait for their first home league win of the season. However, if they are to claim all three points, they will have to improve in the final third after failing to score in any of their first five home games (D2, L3). 

Team News

The hosts are expected to be without the services of Sascha Burchert, Elias Saad, Robert Wagner, Connor Metcalfe, Ronny Seibt, Ben Voll, Scott Banks and Simon Zoller.

Holstein Kiel

Kiel are languishing in the automatic relegation places after collecting just five points from their 11 league games. They began their first-ever Bundesliga campaign with an eight-game winless run, before they recorded a much-needed victory against Heidenheim on matchday nine. Unfortunately for Kiel, they have been unable to build upon that result, having lost back-to-back matches against Werder Bremen and Mainz. 

Marcel Rapp will be concerned by the fact his team have the second-worst defensive record with 28 goals conceded. They also need to improve at the opposite end of the pitch after scoring just 12 goals in 11 league matches. Kiel will hope they can show some sort of improvement on Friday as they go in search of their first-ever Bundesliga away victory, having taken just two points from their five road trips in the league this season.

Team News

The visitors are unable to call upon the injured duo of Colin Kleine-Bekel and Alexander Bernhardsson.