Mainz vs Hamburg Preview: Team News & Prediction
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Friday night Bundesliga action sees Mainz host Hamburg, who are unbeaten in their last five.
Kick-off date/time:
How to watch on TV: UK – BBC iPlayer / US – ESPN
How to watch online: UK – BBC iPlayer & BBC Sport website / US – ESPN+
Mainz preview: Pulling away from danger
Although Mainz were firmly beaten in their most recent Bundesliga fixture, that doesn’t change the fact that recent results have seen them move away from the bottom three and create a gap between themselves and the automatic relegation places. Avoiding defeat here would guarantee they don’t slip into that dreaded bottom three this weekend.
The three wins recorded since January 24th represent more than half of their overall win tally across this season so far in the league, which underlines how bad things were in the opening half of the campaign prior to the winter break.
Hamburg preview: Back-to-back
Hamburg now find themselves in single figures when it comes to the Bundesliga table. Ninth-place represents an outstanding position for a side who are now firmly comfortable when it comes to this level of football. After doing a professional job away at Heidenheim with a 0-2 win, they backed that result up with a thrilling 3-2 triumph over Union Berlin.
Trailing within the opening half-hour, Hamburg responded with two goals to put them up at half-time, before sealing three points inside the final ten minutes, with Union only managing a consolation goal in response.
Mainz team news: No Widmer
Silvan Widmer is suspended for the hosts whilst Andreas Hanche-Olsen is injured. Weiper is out through illness in what is a lengthy list of absentees.
Predicted XI: (3-5-2): Batz; Posch, Kohr, Potulski; Da Costa, Lee, Sano, Amiri, Mwene; Silas, Tietz
Unavailable: Bell (Injured), Caci (Injured), Dal (Injured), Hanche-Olsen (Injured), Hollerbach (Injured), Kawasaki (Injured), Moreno Fell (Illness), Weiper (Illness), Widmer (Suspended), Zentner (Injured)
Questionable:
Hamburg team news: Three Injuries
Whilst Vuskovic misses out due to suspension, Hamburg are without Gronbaek, Rossing-Lelesiit and Lokonga, all as a result of injury.
Predicted XI: (3-4-3): Heuer Fernandes; Capaldo, Omari, Torunarigha; Jatta, Remberg, Vieira, Muheim; Konigsdorffer, Glatzel, Otele
Unavailable: Gronbaek (Injured), Rossing-Lelesiit (Injured), Lokonga (Injured), Vuskovic (Suspended)
Questionable:
Mainz vs Hamburg prediction
Whilst Mainz may have been on the end of a 4-0 thrashing away at Borussia Dortmund last time out, that’s a game which won’t define their season. It’s wins against the likes of Augsburg and Wolfsburg which do that and Mainz achieved both those results in two of their last four, also beating RB Leipzig.
Hamburg have proven notoriously tough to beat over the past few weeks and confidence is high on the back of consecutive wins. They’ll want to keep their unbeaten run going at all costs, whilst Mainz need to bounce back by getting at least something out of this one. Whilst we don’t see many draws involving Mainz, just six in the Bundesliga so far this season, it’s an outcome worth backing on this occasion.
Mainz vs Hamburg tip: Draw
