Union Berlin vs. Holstein Kiel preview: Can the visitors end wait for away win?

Holstein Kiel will attempt to claim their first-ever Bundesliga away victory when they travel to Stadion An der Alten Försterei for Sunday’s meeting with Union Berlin.

Union Berlin

Union will head into Sunday’s fixture on the back of consecutive defeats against Borussia Mönchengladbach and Borussia Dortmund. They were beaten 2-1 by die Fohlen, before they slumped to a heavy 6-0 defeat in their away meeting with Dortmund, conceding four goals in the final 15 minutes. Sehrou Guirassy scored four times following Diogo Leite’s early own goal, before Maximilian Beier found the net to condemn Union to their heaviest Bundesliga defeat, leaving them in 13th place and six points above the bottom three.

After their unsuccessful trip to Signal Iduna Park, Union will now return to Stadion An der Alten Försterei, where they have won just once in their previous eight home league games (D3, L4). Union can at least draw inspiration from their recent record against Kiel, having won each of the last three competitive meetings, including a 2-0 victory in the first Bundesliga encounter between the two sides in October. 

Team News

Union boss Steffen Baumgart is unable to call upon the injured duo of Robert Skov and Aljoscha Kemlein.

Holstein Kiel

Kiel are languishing at the foot of the Bundesliga table after winning three, drawing four and losing 16 of their 23 league matches this season. The basement side recorded the most recent of those three victories in the middle of January when they celebrated a surprise win over Dortmund. Unfortunately for Kiel, they have been unable to build upon that 4-2 victory, going on to take just two points from their next four league matches.

Marcel Rapp’s side are at risk of falling to three consecutive defeats after losing back-to-back games against Eintracht Frankfurt and Bayer Leverkusen. As a result, Kiel are now two points adrift of the relegation spots, while they are eight points away from safety altogether. They will be desperate to boost their survival chances by claiming all three points in Sunday’s fixture. 

However, those hopes will be tempered by the fact they are still waiting for their first-ever Bundesliga away win. In fact, they share the joint worst away record with Bochum after taking just three points from their 11 league road trips. 

Team News

Kiel will be without several players for Sunday’s away trip, including John Tolkin, Benedikt Pichler, Ivan Nekić and Patrick Erras. Meanwhile, Colin Kleine-Bekel, Carl Johansson and Alexander Bernhardsson are both ruled out with to knee injuries.