Augsburg and SV Darmstadt 98 will both be hoping to put some distance between themselves and the relegation zone when they meet in the Bundesliga on Saturday.
Despite losing their last match, Augsburg head into the encounter one point clear of their forthcoming opponents, who won their first game of the season last time out.
Match preview
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Having only survived relegation by a solitary point last season, Augsburg's main aim for the current campaign will likely be finishing outside of the bottom three positions once again, as they look to extend their 12-year stay in the Bundesliga.
Enrico Maassen has remained in charge for his second season at the club, and while there is little doubt that the former Borussia Dortmund reserve-team coach has made Augsburg a little easier on the eye during his time at the club, results have remained inconsistent.
That is particularly true away from home, with their 2-0 loss to Freiburg last weekend making it five straight defeats on the road. In fact, they are winless across their last 16 away trips in the Bundesliga, having collected just three points from those games.
As such, Fuggerstadter's home form becomes even more important, particularly when coming up against likely relegation rivals such as Darmstadt, who they will be fully expecting to beat and move four points clear of in the process.
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However, after winning their first match since returning to the Bundesliga by beating Werder Bremen 4-2 on Sunday, Darmstadt will travel to Bavaria with plenty of confidence of picking up another positive result.
Torsten Lieberknecht's side raced into a two-goal lead courtesy of Matthias Bader's and Tim Skarke's first-half strikes, before Marvin Mehlem and Tobias Kempe doubled the hosts' lead after the break to effectively end the game as a contest, despite Olivier Deman and Milos Veljkovic scoring late consolation goals for the visitors.
Having picked up just one point from their opening five games, which came after throwing away a three-goal lead against Borussia Monchengladbach in their previous home match, finally ending their winless run will have significantly boosted morale within their ranks.
That is particularly true given that they had lost 3-0 away to FC 08 Homburg in the opening round of the DFB-Pokal in early August, but the next step for Lieberknecht and his players is proving that their defence is up to the task by keeping their first clean sheet of the season, potentially starting against Augsburg on Saturday.
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Augsburg will remain without Arne Engels, who was sent off during his side's win against Mainz 05, while Frederik Winther, Japhet Tanganga, Reece Oxford, Masaya Okugawa and Raphael Framberger are all expected to miss out through injury once again.
Mads Pedersen, Dion Drena Beljo and Niklas Dorsch could return to the hosts' starting XI, but in truth, Maassen is not blessed with the greatest squad depth in the world to dramatically freshen things up.
Darmstadt, meanwhile, will travel without Emir Karic, Fabio Torsiello, Braydan Manu and Christoph Zimmermann due to injury, while Oscar Vilhelmsson is struggling with illness and may not be risked.
Having finally recorded their first win of the campaign in their last match, it would be a major surprise if Lieberknecht opted to make any changes to his team, meaning that the likes of Fraser Hornby and Bartol Franjic may have to wait for their opportunities from the bench once again.
Augsburg possible starting lineup:
Dahmen; P Pfeiffer, Gouweleeuw, Uduokhai; Mbabu, Dorsch, Rexhbecaj, Pedersen; Vargas, Demirovic; Beljo
SV Darmstadt 98 possible starting lineup:
Schuhen; Klarer, Gjasula, Maglica; Bader, Holland, Mehlem, Kempe, Nurnberger; L Pfeiffer, Skarke
We say: Augsburg 2-1 SV Darmstadt 98
These sides are both likely to be involved in relegation battles for the entirety of the campaign, making this meeting a crucial six-pointer, with Darmstadt coming into it at the right time after securing their first win of the season last weekend.
However, Augsburg clearly possess far more experience at this level and they showed plenty of grit to hold onto victory against Mainz despite falling down to 10-men in their last home game, so we will back them to earn another crucial win.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Top tip
Brett Curtis
