Augsburg host Hoffenheim on Saturday on the opening weekend of the 2021-22 Bundesliga season.
Both will be looking to build on their wins in the first round of the DFB-Pokal in their first competitive matches of the season last week.
Match preview
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Augsburg's manager Markus Weinzierl returned to the club in April to oversee the final three matches of last season and guided them to safety after one win and two defeats in that time.
Those results meant Augsburg finished in 13th place, three points above the relegation playoff spot and only two places behind Saturday's opponents.
Survival is always the first target for the season for a side that is entering its 11th consecutive year in the top flight, but they will be looking to make a positive start to ensure a less nervy finish to their campaign this time around.
After previously managing Augsburg for four years up to 2016, Weinzierl comes into his first full season back in charge on the back of one win, two draws and one defeat from his four pre-season matches. Although, it is worth mentioning that this defeat was to Paris Saint-Germain.
Following on from there, Augsburg managed to progress from the first round of the DFB Pokal last weekend against amateur side Greifswalder with a 4-2 win.
However, despite their dominance for much of the game, it was far from easy and they even survived an early scare after falling behind just two minutes in.
In terms of transfers, fans have every reason to be excited for the upcoming season after possibly the biggest coup of the Bundesliga transfer window so far.
German Under-21 international defensive midfielder Niklas Dorsch has arrived from Gent after helping his country win the U21 European Championships earlier this summer. After being named in the team of the tournament, there were many suitors considering his signature.
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Away side Hoffenheim will be looking to use their impressive record over Augsburg to get them off to the perfect start in their Bundesliga opener.
Die Kraichgauer have eight wins over the home side in their past 12 meetings, with only two defeats. However, those two losses have come within the last four encounters.
Manager Sebastian Hoeness leads the side in his second season in charge hoping to improve on a poor campaign last year.
Hoffenheim's 11th-placed finish was their lowest since the 2015-16 season and meant they missed out on European football completely. However, after finishing with an unbeaten final seven matches, he will be looking to carry that over into Saturday's match.
After a fairly short pre-season in preparation, Hoffenheim may actually take a few games to fully break into their stride though. Only three friendlies preceded their opening competitive match in the DFB-Pokal on Monday - one win, one draw and one defeat were the results.
These were followed up with an away tie at third-tier side Viktoria Koln in the cup. Despite progressing in the end, it was a far tighter affair than they would have hoped. A strong lineup was fielded and Hoffenheim managed to battle to a 3-2 win after extra time, thanks to a brace from last season's top goalscorer Andrej Kramaric.
The Croatian forward scored 20 Bundesliga goals in 28 matches last year and will bear much of the burden for his side again this season after their new arrivals have been limited to free transfers and existing players returning from loan deals in a COVID affected market.
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Team News
Augsburg have a number of injury concerns ahead of their opener. As many as five players - Reece Oxford, Tobias Strobl, Daniel Caligiuri, Alfred Finnbogason and Sergio Cordova - could be missing for the visit of Hoffenheim, although all are expected back later this month or early into September.
Last season's top goalscorer Andre Hahn is expected to start after recently recovering from a knee injury to start in the cup tie last weekend.
Former Bayern Munich youth product Niklas Dorsch is expected to make his Bundesliga debut for the home side after putting in an impressive performance in his full debut against Greifswalder.
Fellow new signing Arne Maier is also in line to make his debut after arriving on loan from Hertha Berlin.
Meanwhile, Hoffenheim have even more serious injury issues than their hosts; as many as 11 first-team players could be missing, with at least seven ruled out.
Ihlas Bebou, Ishak Belfodil, Ermin Bicakcic, Florian Grillitsch, Benjamin Hubner, Pavel Kaderabek and Havard Nordtveit are expected to be those missing completely.
In addition, Sargis Adamyan, Oliver Baumann, Diadie Samassekou and Robert Skov are all labelled as doubtful with various issues.
This leaves an even greater burden on star player Andrej Kramaric, who will start again after beginning the season where he left off last campaign with a brace in the cup.
Augsburg possible starting lineup:
Gikiewicz; Framberger, Gouweleeuw, Uduokhai, Iago; Moravek, Dorsch; Hahn, Jensen, Vargas; Niederlechner
Hoffenheim possible starting lineup:
Pentke; Posch, Akpoguma, Vogt, Raum; Rudy, Geiger; Bruun Larsen, Baumgartner, Kramaric; Rutter
We say: Augsburg 2-1 Hoffenheim
Goals are probably to be expected between the two sides yet again but we think Augsburg will just edge this one. It is likely to be close after finishing last season in similar positions, and with both missing players and looking to find their feet in the opening match.
Top tip
Data Analysis
Our analysis of all available data, including recent performances and player stats up until an hour before kickoff, suggested the most likely outcome of this match was a Hoffenheim win with a probability of 50.22%. A win for Augsburg had a probability of 25.24% and a draw had a probability of 24.5%.
The most likely scoreline for a Hoffenheim win was 0-1 with a probability of 10.69%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 1-2 (9.56%) and 0-2 (8.78%). The likeliest Augsburg win was 1-0 (7.1%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 1-1 (11.65%). The actual scoreline of 0-4 was predicted with a 2% likelihood. Our data analysis correctly predicted that Hoffenheim would win this match.
