Two of the Bundesliga's most inconsistent teams face off in Bavaria on Saturday, with Augsburg entertaining Werder Bremen at the WWK Arena.
Having struggled for stability throughout the campaign, the hosts find themselves five points clear of the bottom three, while Werder lead Augsburg by six points.
Match preview
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Augsburg head into Saturday's clash on the back of a disappointing 2-0 defeat to relegation rivals Hertha Berlin, with Enrico Maassen's side managing a solitary shot on target in the capital last weekend.
Despite securing victories over Borussia Monchengladbach, Bayer Leverkusen and Hoffenheim in 2023, Augsburg have failed to register back-to-back league wins since October, which highlights their inconsistency.
Worse still, the Bavarian outfit have only managed to win three of their previous 14 Bundesliga outings, recording three draws and eight losses in the process.
It is also worth noting that Augsburg hold the third-worst home record in the German top flight, having taken just 14 points from a possible 33 at the WWK Arena this season, while scoring a league-low 10 goals on home soil.
As a result, Augsburg sit five points outside the automatic relegation places, with the likes of Hertha Berlin, Stuttgart and Schalke 04 gathering momentum below.
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Werder Bremen, meanwhile, claimed an important 3-0 victory over VfL Bochum last time out, courtesy of goals from Niclas Fullkrug, Niklas Schmidt and Marvin Ducksch.
Fullkrug has now netted 14 goals in 21 league games this term, making him the Bundesliga's top scorer, while Ducksch has bagged five goals and seven assists across all competitions in 2022-23.
Like Augsburg, however, Werder have struggled for consistency in recent times, recording seven wins and eight losses in their previous 15 Bundesliga outings, with their last league draw coming all the way back in September.
After returning from the winter break with back-to-back defeats, the River Islanders notched a couple of wins before suffering two straight losses, so the victory over Bochum came as a welcome boost.
That said, Ole Werner's men could struggle to build on last weekend's win, as they have lost four of their last five away matches, conceding a whopping 17 goals along the way.
Team News
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Augsburg will be without the injured duo of Felix Uduokhai and Tobias Strobl for the foreseeable future, with the latter continuing to recover from a lengthy ACL injury layoff.
Elvis Rexhbecaj, Reece Oxford and Andre Hahn are also expected to be absent for the hosts this weekend, although all three players are close to returning from injury.
Top scorer Ermedin Demirovic – who has chalked up seven goals and four assists this term – will continue to offer support to Mergim Berisha and Kelvin Yeboah in attack.
Werder Bremen manager Ole Werner may be tempted to stick with the same XI that started last weekend's 3-0 victory over VfL Bochum.
If that is the case, Niclas Fullkrug and Marvin Ducksch will start in attack for the visitors, with Amos Pieper, Milos Veljkovic and Marco Friedl occupying the centre-back spots.
In terms of injuries, Dikeni Salifou, Mitchell Weiser, Jean-Manuel Mbom and Felix Agu all remain sidelined for Werder.
Augsburg possible starting lineup:
Gikiewicz; Gumny, Gouweleeuw, Veiga, Iago; Maier, Engles, Dorsch, Demirovic; Yeboah, Berisha
Werder Bremen possible starting lineup:
Pavlenka; Pieper, Veljkovic, Friedl; Bittencourt, Schmidt, Gross, Stage, Jung; Fullkrug, Ducksch
We say: Augsburg 1-0 Werder Bremen
Augsburg have upped their game at the WWK Arena of late, meaning that Maassen's men should give Werder Bremen a run for their money on Saturday.
Having claimed three successive 1-0 victories on home soil, Augsburg look set to edge out Werder, who are on course to suffer a fifth defeat in six away outings.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Top tip
Ben Morris
