RB Leipzig entertain Borussia Monchengladbach in the Bundesliga on Saturday, with the visitors in desperate need of a positive result having failed to win their last four league games.
The home side, meanwhile, have closed the gap to Bayern Munich at the top of the table to only two points.
Match preview
© Reuters
Indeed, Leipzig bounced back from a disappointing 2-0 defeat to Liverpool in their Champions League last-16 first leg last week by recording a fourth successive league victory in a 3-0 win at Hertha Berlin.
Marcel Sabitzer and Nordi Mukiele were each to blame for the goals Julian Nagelsmann's side conceded to the English champions, but were ironically both on the scoresheet along the way to comfortably dispatching their struggling opponents on Sunday.
Sabitzer's strike was a genuine goal of the season contender, with the Austrian midfielder picking up the loose ball over 30 metres from goal before firing a missile-like strike into the sky, with the ball viciously dipping into the top corner, leaving Hertha goalkeeper Rune Jarstein absolutely no chance.
Matheus Cunha missed a golden opportunity to level the proceedings after the break by tamely shooting straight at Peter Gulacsi, before Mukiele's thumping effort and Willi Orban's header wrapped up a comfortable victory.
Nagelsmann will be keen to maintain the pressure which his side have done so well to re-establish on Bayern in recent weeks by beating Gladbach on Saturday and ensuring the gap between the title contenders remains as one Bayern slip-up at worst.
© Reuters
Gladbach may not represent the dangerous opposition they would have prior to the confirmation that their manager Marco Rose will depart for Borussia Dortmund in the summer, with two points in their last four league games seeing them slump to eighth in the table and nine points behind the Champions League qualification positions.
Die Fohlen's success in recent years has predominantly been built around a superb home record, but without their fans in support that has somewhat disintegrated this season. Indeed, Rose's side fell to a successive home defeat to a side towards the bottom of the table by losing 2-1 to Mainz 05 last weekend.
Perhaps demotivated by the fact their manager is set to leave, Gladbach lacked aggression and intensity from the start, with Jeremiah St Juste's long ball over the top deceiving Matthias Ginter, allowing Karim Onisiwo to run in behind and smash the visitors into the lead. Lars Stindl levelled proceedings with his 10th league goal of the season, but Kevin Stoger scored from the bench for the second successive match to steal a crucial win for the strugglers.
Die Fohlen's first ever Champions League knockout match proved to be little more than a damp squib on Wednesday, too, with Bernardo Silva and Gabriel Jesus scoring either side of half time in a comfortable 2-0 win for Manchester City.
The hosts did not muster a single shot on target until substitute Hannes Wolf tested Ederson in the dying stages of the game, so they must show more ambition if they are to penetrate the Bundesliga's best defence in Leipzig on Saturday.
RB Leipzig Bundesliga form: WLWWWW
RB Leipzig form (all competitions): WWWWLW
Borussia Monchengladbach Bundesliga form: WWDLDL
Borussia Monchengladbach form (all competitions): DWLDLL
Team News
© Reuters
Leipzig will be without Kevin Kampl, Konrad Laimer and Emil Forsberg due to knee injuries, with Dominik Szoboszlai's groin issue still preventing him from making his debut for the club after signing from Red Bull Salzburg in January.
Mukiele and Christopher Nkunku could return to the starting XI after being used from the bench in the win in Berlin, while Dayot Upamecano should slot back into the defence after receiving a rare rest.
Gladbach, meanwhile, lost Jonas Hofmann to a leg injury in the final few minutes against Man City, with the Germany international likely to be out for a few weeks.
Otherwise, Rose appears to have no injury issues to contend with, so Marcus Thuram and Breel Embolo could come into the side to freshen the attack up.
RB Leipzig possible starting lineup:
Gulacsi; Klostermann, Upamecano, Halstenberg; Mukiele, Haidara, Sabitzer, Angelino; Nkunku, Olmo; Poulsen
Borussia Monchengladbach possible starting lineup:
Sommer; Lainer, Ginter, Elvedi, Bensebaini; Zakaria, Kramer, Neuhaus; Embolo, Stindl, Thuram
We say: RB Leipzig 2-1 Borussia Monchengladbach
We expect Leipzig to be too strong for Gladbach, but it will not be easy as the visitors have shown on several occasions this season that they can raise their game against the league's stronger sides.
However, Nagelsmann's side's organised counter-pressing and strength in one-versus-one defensive situations should help them over the line and keep the gap to Bayern to within two points at worst.
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 RB Leipzig win with a probability of 45.19%. A win for Borussia Monchengladbach had a probability of 30.84% and a draw had a probability of 24%.
The most likely scoreline for a RB Leipzig win was 2-1 with a probability of 9.21%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 1-0 (8.3%) and 2-0 (6.9%). The likeliest Borussia Monchengladbach win was 1-2 (7.39%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 1-1 (11.07%). The actual scoreline of 3-2 was predicted with a 3.4% likelihood. Our data analysis correctly predicted that RB Leipzig would win this match.
