FC Koln and Augsburg head into Sunday's meeting level on points in the Bundesliga table.
The visitors are unbeaten in their last four league games, while the hosts are aiming to bounce back after suffering defeat last time out.
Match preview
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Indeed, it has been a troublesome week for Koln, who were thrashed 5-2 away to their rivals Borussia Monchengladbach last week, before losing 2-0 to Partizan in the Europa Conference League on Thursday.
Their second defeat to the Serbian SuperLiga champions in the space of a week leaves Steffen Baumgart's side trailing second-placed Nice by one point in Group D, meaning that they are likely to need at least four points from their last two matches if they are to progress to the knockout stages.
In the meantime, Baumgart will be hoping to see his side's domestic form improve having only taken four points from their last four matches to drop to ninth in the table, although that is certainly no disgrace for a team that was often fighting against relegation before his appointment during the summer of 2021.
Having failed to keep a clean sheet in any of their last nine matches, the 50-year-old will be wary of their forthcoming opponent's attacking lineup in recent weeks, and he may look to play more cautiously as a result.
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While only rock-bottom VfL Bochum have scored fewer goals than Augsburg's tally of nine so far this season, much of that is due to them only bagging two across their first five league games under Enrico Maassen.
Since then, the former Borussia Dortmund reserve team manager has switched to a more offensive 4-2-2-2 formation - utilising four out-and-out attackers in most cases - and reaping the rewards with 10 points from a possible 12.
Following three successive victories, Fuggerstadter headed into their home match against Wolfsburg full of confidence last weekend, but fell behind to Yannick Gerhardt's opener in the 27th minute. Robert Gumny salvaged a point after the break, but they could not find all three.
Still, their winning run was always likely to come to an end sooner rather than later, and there is every chance that they can catch Koln cold having had much more rest time than their forthcoming opponents.
Team News
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Koln will be without one of their key creative presences in the shape of Florian Kainz, who was sent off during the defeat to Gladbach last week and will serve a one-match suspension as a result, with Mark Uth waiting in the wings to replace him having returned from injury in recent weeks.
Julian Chabot, Jan Thielmann, Dimitrios Limnios, Sebastian Andersson, Tim Lemperle and Dejan Ljubicic are all sidelined through injury, severely restricting Baumgart's ability to mix things up should he wish to.
Augsburg, meanwhile, have several players ruled out themselves, with Reece Oxford, Felix Uduokhai, Niklas Dorsch, Tobias Strobl, Andre Hahn and Noah Joel Sarenren Bazee all on the treatment table.
Jeffrey Gouweleeuw and Maximilian Bauer both picked up their fifth bookings of the season against Wolfsburg and are therefore suspended for the trip to Cologne, leaving the visitors incredibly short of options in defence.
Gumny may tuck inside alongside Frederik Winther in the middle, with Raphael Framberger starting at right-back.
FC Koln possible starting lineup:
Schwabe; Schmitz, Kilian, Hubers, Hector; Skhiri, Martel; Uth, Duda, Maina; Tigges
Augsburg possible starting lineup:
Gikiewicz; Framberger, Gumny, Winther, Iago; Gruezo, Rexhbecaj; Vargas, Demirovic; Niederlechner, Berisha
We say: FC Koln 2-1 Augsburg
Attack may be the best form of defence for the visitors given the amount of injuries and suspensions they have at centre-back, but Koln are likely to look the more balanced unit as a result thia weekend.
As such, we expect them to return to winning ways after a difficult week, with Augsburg arguably due to suffer a defeat at some point.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Top tip
Brett Curtis
