A revitalised FC Koln side welcome high-flying RB Leipzig to the RheinEnergieStadion on Saturday in the Bundesliga.
Neither side has lost since returning from Germany's extended mid-season break.
Match preview
© Reuters
It has been a peculiar return to action for Koln, but overall it has mainly been positive.
The Billy Goats took just one point from their final five Bundesliga games before the World Cup, but they have made an emphatic comeback to reignite their season.
A 7-1 thrashing of Werder Bremen in their first game back was a thrilling way to restart the campaign, with Ellyes Skhiri and Steffen Tigges both starring with two goals and one assist each.
They followed up that big win with a fantastic draw at Bayern Munich, with Skhiri on target again, and if it was not for Joshua Kimmich's last-minute wonder goal, Koln would have left the Allianz Arena with three points.
However, a 0-0 draw with Schalke at the weekend was underwhelming, with a sense around the team that it was a missed opportunity to keep their fantastic set of results going.
Schalke are a side they would have felt confident of beating, given that they are the current bottom side in the Bundesliga and had lost their other two post-World Cup games by an aggregate score of 9-1.
With European qualification almost certainly out of the equation, a win at the Veltins-Arena would have at least moved them into the top half, but that will remain the target for Steffen Baumgart's side.
Leipzig are another side who have recovered brilliantly from a troubling spell earlier in the season, so much so that they are now arguably Bayern's biggest challengers for the title.
© Reuters
Marco Rose's side were unbeaten in their final 13 games in all competitions before the season halted in November, and they have taken seven points from a possible nine since the return.
A 1-1 draw with Bayern on the Bundesliga's first night back was a good result, as it kept them in touch before they were then able to capitalise on the Bavarian club's inability to win any of their matches since the league's resumption.
A 6-1 thrashing of Schalke helped boost confidence even more before seeing off Stuttgart 2-1 last weekend to close the gap to just two points from the league leaders.
Stiff competition around Leipzig is also a challenge though, as the top six are currently separated by just five points.
A 3-1 win over Hoffenheim in the DFB-Pokal in midweek saw Die Roten Bullen extend their unbeaten run to a phenomenal 17 matches.
Team News
© Reuters
Koln will be without a number of attacking options again for this one, as Mark Uth, Dimitrios Limnios, Florian Dietz and Sebastian Andersson will all be out.
Defensive duo Luca Kilian and Kristian Pedersen are also missing, as both are currently nursing muscle injuries.
It was a quiet month on the transfer front for Koln, as Davie Selke's arrival from Hertha Berlin on January 1 was their only incoming, while Ondrej Duda joining Hellas Verona on loan was the only notable outgoing.
It was similarly quiet for Leipzig too, whose transfer strategy, as part of the Red Bull group, is often regarded as the best in the world, but they opted not to bring in any new faces this month.
That is despite losing Dani Olmo at half time against Stuttgart to join Christopher Nkunku on the injury list.
Abdou Diallo and goalkeeper Peter Gulacsi also remain out for Leipzig, so Janis Blaswich should continue between the sticks after being given the night off against Hoffenheim in the cup.
FC Koln possible starting lineup:
Schwabe; Schmitz, Hubers, Chabot, Hector; Shkiri, Huseinbasic, Ljubicic, Kainz; Maina, Tigges
RB Leipzig possible starting lineup:
Blaswich; Hendrichs, Orban, Gvardiol, Raum; Haidara, Schlager, Szoboszlai, Forsberg; Andre Silva, Werner
We say: FC Koln 1-3 RB Leipzig
Despite Koln's strong return to action, Leipzig are beating almost everything put in front of them under Rose and will give Baumgart's side the ultimate test here.
Koln's 0-0 draw with Schalke was their first clean sheet in 14 games, and 10 of the 11 meetings between the sides have seen both teams score, so goals are to be expected in this one.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
