The final match of the Bundesliga weekend sees Arminia Bielefeld take on Greuther Furth in a huge relegation clash at the Schuco-Arena on Sunday.
The hosts have given themselves a chance of survival after an upturn in form either side of the winter break, whilst the visitors still require a miraculous escape despite a mini revival themselves.
Match preview
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Sunday's hosts Bielefeld finished 2021 in excellent fashion, with back-to-back 2-0 victories over VfL Bochum and giants RB Leipzig.
Those wins were just the second and third of their campaign so far, in what has been a difficult opening to the 2021-22 season for the minnows.
Frank Kramer's side then returned from the three-week break with similar fight and spirit last weekend, when Die Arminen picked up a 2-2 draw at fourth-placed Freiburg.
After falling 2-0 behind following goals from their opponents at the beginning of each half, very few could have predicted that Bielefeld would have got anything out of the game against a high-flying and well-drilled side.
However, Masaya Okugawa's goal on the hour mark was followed by a late equaliser from Bryan Lasme just three minutes from time, to provide the struggling side with a vital point.
That point did nothing to affect Bielefeld's league position of 17th inside the drop zone, but it did manage to pull them to within a point of Augsburg in the relegation playoff spot.
With three huge points on Sunday potentially lifting the hosts as high as 14th, Kramer will have his side well up for the occasion, and with all three of their league wins this season arriving in their last eight fixtures, of which only two have been defeats, then his side will also possess the confidence required as well.
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Meanwhile, Greuther head to Bielefeld rooted to the bottom of the Bundesliga table, with a huge gap of 11 points between themselves and their opponents, and a 12-point gap to Stuttgart in safety.
The 0-0 draw at home to the latter last weekend did little to help their situation in truth, as wins over their fellow strugglers around them are all but certainly required to give the Cloverleaves any glimmer of hope of survival.
Stefan Leitl's side had their chances to achieve a crucial victory, but in the end they were perhaps fortunate to come away with a point after their opponent's domination of the second half.
Every Bundesliga fixture between now and the end of the season is like a cup final for Greuther, but even with that, there is little pressure on Sunday's visitors due to the next-to-no expectations placed on their shoulders due to their circumstances.
With three clean sheets and just one defeat across their last four games though, which came at second-placed Borussia Dortmund, there is perhaps a glimmer of hope that remains in the Greuther camp.
However, if they are to pick up a potentially-massive three points on Sunday, then the visitors must put in a much-improved display on the road, with prior poor showings leading to nine defeats in all of their previous away trips this season so far, with a dreadful return of 34 goals conceded during that time.
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Team News
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Bielefeld must do without Fabian Klos once more on Sunday, with the experienced forward serving the second match of his suspension for his red card at Leipzig prior to the winter break.
Nathan de Medina is the only other absentee though, as the defender sits out due to illness, whilst captain Manuel Prietl could be set to return.
Lasme could potentially be rewarded for his equaliser by earning his place ahead of Florian Kruger, whilst Prietl could come into the side ahead of Janni Serra.
As for the visitors, Justin Hoogma is expected to miss out due to COVID-19 once more on Sunday, and whilst Gideon Jung has returned to training, the defender remains unavailable.
Abdourahmane Barry's hip injury keeps him out until next month, whilst Marius Funk, Robin Kehr and Jessic Ngankam remain out for the long term due to serious knee injuries.
With very few options at his disposal, Leitl is unlikely to make many changes, with the only potential switch being Havard Nielsen's introduction from the start in place of Jeremy Dudziak.
Arminia Bielefeld possible starting lineup:
Ortega; Brunner, Pieper, Nilsson, Andrade; Schopf, Prietl, Vasiliadis; Wimmer, Lasme, Okugawa
Greuther Furth possible starting lineup:
Burchert; Meyerhofer, Griesbeck, Viergever, Itter; Seguin, Christiansen, Tillman; Nielsen; Hrgota, Leweling
We say: Arminia Bielefeld 1-0 Greuther Furth
With Bielefeld's recent upturn in form, and Greuther's awful showings on the road all season so far, we are predicting a huge win for the hosts in this relegation clash on Sunday.
Kramer's side have not only begun to show the fight and spirit required to pick up results, but also the quality required in front of goal, something which Greuther have unfortunately lacked to this point.
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 Arminia Bielefeld win with a probability of 59.92%. A draw had a probability of 22.4% and a win for Greuther Furth had a probability of 17.65%.
The most likely scoreline for an Arminia Bielefeld win was 1-0 with a probability of 12.04%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-0 (11.09%) and 2-1 (9.82%). The likeliest drawn scoreline was 1-1 (10.66%), while for a Greuther Furth win it was 0-1 (5.79%). The actual scoreline of 2-2 was predicted with a 4.3% likelihood.
