Bochum vs Heidenheim Preview: Team News & Prediction
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These are two of the teams that begin the weekend occupying two of the bottom three spots in the Bundesliga and it is a massive game to head into the winter break on the back of.
Kick-off date/time: Sunday 22nd December, 2024: UK – 2:30pm / US ET – 9:30am / US PT – 6:30am
How to watch on TV: UK – Sky Sports / US – Some matches will be televised on ESPN channels so it is worth checking their schedules
How to watch online: UK – Sky Go / US – ESPN+
Bochum Preview: Struggling again
After avoiding relegation by winning the end of season playoff against Hamburg last season, Bochum would be fortunate to even get themselves a playoff this time around as they sit rock-bottom in the Bundesliga table with just three points collected so far this season.
The home team come into this one on the back of a 14-match winless stretch to kick off the campaign but they did earn a point in their most recent outing away to Union Berlin in the German capital, despite being down to ten men for the vast majority of that match.
Heidenheim Preview: Regressed to the mean
Heidenheim have been one of the major stories of European football in the last few years, propelling themselves into the UEFA Europa Conference League, where they secured knockout football in midweek with a 1-1 draw at home to Swiss Super League side St Gallen.
The visitors remain third-from-bottom and in the relegation playoff place in the Bundesliga, though, as they struggle to balance domestic and European commitments. Their most recent domestic outing saw them beaten 3-1 at home by Stuttgart last weekend.
Bochum Team News: Miyoshi suspension
As mentioned, Bochum went down to ten men last weekend with former Birmingham City man Koji Miyoshi sent off and he is now unavailable due to suspension with a few key injury doubts such as Gerrit Holtmann and Jakov Medic. Goalkeeper Patrick Drewes is also a key doubt.
Predicted XI (3-4-2-1): Horn; Oermann, Ordets, Bernardo; Passlack, Bero, Sissoko, Wittek; De Wit, Hofmann; Broschinski
Unavailable: Miyoshi (Suspended)
Questionable: Drewes (Injured), Medic (Injured), Holtman (Injured), Balde (Injured)
Heidenheim Team News: Gimber suspended
Heidenheim are dealing with a few issues for this weekend’s trip to Bochum. Defender Benedikt Gimber is missing through suspension for this one with a couple of injury doubts such as Lennard Maloney and Mikkel Kaufmann.
Predicted XI (4-2-3-1): Muller; Traore, Mainka, Siersleben, Fohrenbach; Dorsch, Schoppner; Scienza, Wanner, Honsak; Pieringer
Unavailable: Gimber (Suspended)
Questionable: Maloney (Injured), Kaufmann (Injured)
Bochum vs Heidenheim Prediction
Bochum remain winless in the Bundesliga and they are also the joint lowest scorers in the top-flight, too, with just 11 goals scored alongside newly-promoted St Pauli. They begin the match day seven points adrift of Heidenheim in the relegation playoff place and eight adrift of complete survival. Heidenheim have massively underwhelmed throughout the campaign but it isn’t an underperformance but only in relative terms with a low-scoring encounter to be expected for this one in what should be a low quality affair.
Bochum vs Heidenheim Tip: Under 2.5 goals
