St. Pauli vs. Union Berlin preview: Can the hosts end their losing run?

St. Pauli will look to end a seven-game losing run in the Bundesliga when they welcome Union Berlin to Millerntor-Stadion on Sunday.

St. Pauli

St. Pauli made a positive start to the season, taking seven points from their opening three games. However, they have since experienced a dramatic drop-off in form, having lost each of their last seven Bundesliga matches since beating Augsburg on September 14. Louis Oppie’s effort proved to be a mere consolation in the 2-1 away defeat to Freiburg in St. Pauli’s final outing before the international break. 

As a result of their poor form, St. Pauli are languishing a point adrift of safety in the relegation playoff spot, with one point separating them from the bottom two. Alexander Blessin’s side are struggling at both ends of the pitch, considering they are the league’s fourth-lowest scorers with nine goals, while they have shipped 20 goals across their 10 Bundesliga matches – only three teams have conceded more. 

St. Pauli may be short of inspiration, but they can at least take confidence from the fact that they eased to a 3-0 victory in their most recent meeting with Union in January. 

Team News

The hosts are unable to call upon the injured trio of David Nemeth, Manolis Saliakas and Adam Dźwigała. In positive news, Ricky-Jade Jones should be fit to feature in a matchday squad for the first time since arriving from Peterborough United in the summer. 

Predicted lineup: Vasilj; Wahl, Smith, Mets; Pyrka, Irvine, Fujita, Oppie; Metcalfe; Pereira Lage, Kaars

Union Berlin

Union will head into Sunday’s fixture in 12th place after winning three, drawing three and losing four of their 10 league matches. Steffen Baumgart’s side have failed to win any of their last three Bundesliga games since beating Borussia Mönchengladbach 3-1 on October 17. However, they did produce a strong showing in their final outing before the international break against Bayern Munich. Danilho Doekhi netted a brace to put his side on the verge of a famous 2-1 victory, only for Harry Kane to net a dramatic 93rd-minute equaliser.

While they would have been disappointed to miss out on all three points, Union at least managed to extend their unbeaten home run to five competitive matches (W2, D3). Die Eisernen will be desperate to produce that sort of form on their travels, having lost three of their four away league games this season. 

If they are to win on Sunday, they will have to beat St. Pauli at Millerntor-Stadion for the first time since picking up a narrow 1-0 victory in a 2.Bundesliga clash in April 2018. 

Team News

Baumgart is having to cope without the services of Josip Juranović, Robert Skov, András Schäfer, Andrik Markgraf and Dmytro Bogdanov. 

Predicted lineup: Rønnow; Doekhi, Querfeld, Leite; Trimmel, Khedira, Kemlein, Köhn; Burke, Ansah; Ilić