Hertha Berlin will be hoping to put some extra breathing space between themselves and the relegation zone when they welcome Borussia Monchengladbach to the Olympiastadion in the Bundesliga on Saturday.
The hosts earned a vital win last weekend, whilst the visitors will be looking to continue their upturn in recent results after a disappointing start to the campaign.
Match preview
© Reuters
An impressive 2-1 win at Eintracht Frankfurt last week has lifted Hertha to 13th in the Bundesliga table heading into matchday nine.
Marco Richter gave the Berlin side an early lead, before Jurgen Ekkelenkamp extended it just three minutes after arriving on the pitch as a second-half substitute.
A late penalty set up a nervy finish but Pal Dardai's side hung on for a crucial victory against their European-hopeful opponents, in what was a solid display and well-deserved after also missing a number of opportunities to extend their lead further.
It was the near-perfect performance and display to bounce back from successive defeats prior to the international break, but also one that continued the frustrations and concerns in the defensive areas of the team.
That late goal for Frankfurt ensured that The Old Lady have to wait at least another week before they could potentially record their first clean sheet of the Bundesliga campaign.
In fact, the 21 goals conceded so far means Hertha have the leakiest defence across the entire division, with the 5-0 thrashing against Bayern Munich, as well as the 6-0 hammering at the hands of RB Leipzig, affecting that unwanted tag particularly.
© Reuters
Meanwhile, Saturday's visitors Monchengladbach are finally stringing a few results together under their new manager Adi Hutter.
After beginning the season with just a single victory from the opening five fixtures, which included three defeats, Hutter and his side have followed that up with two wins prior to the international break, and a 1-1 draw against Stuttgart most recently.
Considering those back-to-back successes came against sides competing in Europe - Wolfsburg and Borussia Dortmund - there are signs that the former Frankfurt boss is beginning to get his side playing the way he wants.
However, also considering that both of those opponents were reduced to 10 men during those encounters, the Foals will not be getting carried away just yet.
European football is the aim for Gladbach after missing out on it completely under Marco Rose in 2020-21, and there is plenty of room for improvement if they are to achieve their goal come May.
There was evidence of this last weekend against Stuttgart, when Gladbach completely dominated their visitors but failed to net more than one goal, despite attempting 31 shots to their opponents' five.
After Jonas Hofmann equalised just before half time, the three points were there for the taking but a lack of clinical finishing cost the Foals in the end, with an out-of-form Alassane Plea and an injured Marcus Thuram certainly being part of the reason for this during the season so far.
- L
- W
- W
- L
- L
- W
- L
- W
- L
- W
- W
- D
Team News
© Reuters
Hertha could be boosted by the return of a number of injured players in the coming weeks, with Lucas Tousart, Deyovaisio Zeefuik, Linus Gechter, Marton Dardai and Rune Jarstein all returning to some form of training recently.
Zeefuik and Gechter are expected to remain unavailable for Saturday, though, whilst Tousart is listed as a doubt due to his ankle injury that kept him out of last weekend's win.
Lukas Klunter and Jordan Torunarigha have also been ruled out for the hosts, due to shoulder and hip injuries respectively.
As for Monchengladbach, they could welcome back full-back Ramy Bensebaini on Saturday, after the important Algerian has been missing since August.
The influential Thuram has been unavailable since the second match of the season, but despite returning to training this week, he is unlikely to feature just yet.
Stefan Lainer, Christoph Kramer and Mamadou Doucoure have all been ruled out of the trip to the capital for definite though.
Hertha Berlin possible starting lineup:
Schwolow; Pekarik, Boyata, Stark, Plattenhardt; Ascacibar, Serdar; Richter, Darida, Mittelstadt; Piatek
Borussia Monchengladbach possible starting lineup:
Sommer; Ginter, Elvedi, Beyer; Scally, Zakaria, Kone, Netz; Hofmann, Stindl; Embolo
We say: Hertha Berlin 1-2 Borussia Monchengladbach
Goals should be expected when these two meet on Saturday based on the stats and form leading up to it, particularly considering the defensive woes of Hertha.
If Gladbach can continue their upturn in form in recent weeks, then they should have the quality to edge out their hosts, although they will need to be more clinical in front of goal than they were last week if they are to come out victorious.
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 Borussia Monchengladbach win with a probability of 45.82%. A win for Hertha Berlin had a probability of 30.27% and a draw had a probability of 23.9%.
The most likely scoreline for a Borussia Monchengladbach win was 1-2 with a probability of 9.27%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 0-1 (8.38%) and 0-2 (7.02%). The likeliest Hertha Berlin win was 2-1 (7.3%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 1-1 (11.06%). The actual scoreline of 1-0 was predicted with a 6.6% likelihood.
