VfL Bochum will be aiming to earn successive wins when they host FC Koln in the Bundesliga's Saturday evening kickoff slot.
The visitors, meanwhile, dropped to the bottom of the table after being held 1-1 at home to Augsburg last weekend.
Match preview
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Bochum, on the other hand, moved outside of the relegation places by claiming their first victory of the season with a 2-1 win away to newly-promoted SV Darmstadt 98 last weekend.
The two sides had gone into the break level after Fabian Nurnberger cancelled out Takuma Asano's opener, but Asano restored the visitors' lead nine minutes after half time. Bochum were on the back foot for much of the encounter, but Fabian Holland's dismissal 21 minutes from time boosted their hopes of holding out for a crucial victory, which they duly managed to do.
That win saw Thomas Letsch's side leapfrog their opponents into 14th position in the table, which is exactly where they finished last season. Given that this is only their third campaign back in the Bundesliga following their promotion in 2021, Die Unabsteigbaren's primary aim will undoubtedly be survival once again.
As such, Saturday's showdown against a potential relegation rival takes on extra significance, not least as Bochum's previous win on the road actually came in Cologne in early March. Letsch's side had endured nine games without a win this season - as well as nine successive away games without a victory - before beating Darmstadt, so they will be hoping two come in quick succession.
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Koln have only won once themselves in the Bundesliga this season, having been beaten seven times in 10 matches. As such, it is little surprise to see Steffen Baumgart's propping up the rest of the division after making such a poor start to the campaign.
The Billy Goats did manage to avoid defeat last weekend, but having led at home against Augsburg through Linton Maina's early strike, Baumgart and his players would have been disappointed not to win after Phillip Tietz snatched a point for the visitors.
However, Koln were somewhat unfortunate not to claim all three points given that they forced Finn Dahmen into making 10 saves across the course of the encounter, as they racked up 26 shots in total as well as 10 corners. Having been thrashed 6-0 by RB Leipzig before being beaten 3-2 by second division side Kaiserslautern in the DFB-Pokal, there were much more promising signs during their draw at RheinEnergieStadion.
While they will be desperate not to remain bottom of the table during the upcoming international break, there is still a huge portion of the season remaining, meaning that Baumgart must help his players remain calm. That said, with only one point and two goals to their name away from home this season, they clearly need an improved performance to claim a positive result at Bochum.
Team News
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Bochum have several players ruled out through injury at present, with Matus Bero, Michael Esser, Mohammed Tolba, Lys Mousset, Jordi Osei-Tutu, Ivan Ordets, Christopher Antwi-Adjei and Moritz Romling all expected to miss out on Saturday.
As such, Letsch's only selection headache may be whether to restore Danilo Soares and utilise a 3-5-2 formation, or keep faith with Moritz Broschinski in attack after they finally claimed their first win of the season against Darmstadt.
Koln, meanwhile, will travel without Philipp Pentke and Jacob Christensen due to injury, while Damion Downs and Dejan Ljubicic are both major doubts due to a knock and illness respectively.
Leart Paqarada could return to the side at left-back in order to provide more balance down that flank, while Davie Selke will be hopeful of earning a recall to lead the visitors' line at the expense of Steffen Tigges.
VfL Bochum possible starting lineup:
Riemann; Masovic, Schlotterbeck, Bernardo; Gamboa, Losilla, Stoger, Osterhage, Soares; Asano, Hofmann
FC Koln possible starting lineup:
Schwabe; Carstensen, Hubers, Chabot, Paqarada; Martel, Kainz; Maina, Uth, Waldschmidt; Selke
We say: VfL Bochum 1-1 FC Koln
With both teams only winning once in the Bundesliga so far this season, there is unlikely to be much confidence on display at Vonovia Ruhrstadion on Saturday, especially with Koln heading into the contest sitting bottom of the table.
Bochum have proven tougher to beat than their opponents, but they have failed to win at home with three draws and one defeat. We can envisage them having to share the spoils once again with so much at stake in this potential relegation six-pointer.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Top tip
Brett Curtis
