St. Pauli and Borussia Mönchengladbach Face Off: A Crucial Match for Three Vital Points

St. Pauli commenced their Bundesliga season with a solid start, claiming two victories and suffering one loss. However, the team’s momentum has significantly diminished since then. Under the guidance of Alexander Blessin, they have faced five straight defeats following their victory over Augsburg on September 14, including a setback of 2-0 in their recent away match against Eintracht Frankfurt. Currently, they find themselves in 14th place, maintaining a three-point cushion above the relegation zone.

This latest outcome marked the fourth instance in five games where St. Pauli was unable to find the back of the net. Nonetheless, they did manage to show some attacking prowess during their recent DFB-Pokal encounter with Hoffenheim. Mathias Pereira Lage scored a crucial equalizer in the 122nd minute, leading to a 2-2 tie after extra time and pushing the match to penalties. St. Pauli ultimately triumphed 8-7 in a thrilling shootout to secure a spot in the last-16 round.

Looking ahead to Saturday, the team will be aiming for another positive result, as they seek to secure their first head-to-head win since February 2011. The home side will be eager to strike early at Millerntor-Stadion, particularly since they have allowed the first goal in seven of their eight league games this season.

The team will be without the injured David Nemeth, while Arkadiusz Pyrka is a doubt due to illness.

Predicted lineup: Vasilj; Wahl, Smith, Mets; Saliakas, Sands, Sinani, Fujita, Oppie; Kaars, Pereira Lage

Gladbach remains the only team in the Bundesliga without a victory this season, having recorded three draws and suffered five losses across their eight league matches. In their latest Bundesliga fixture, they experienced a 3-0 defeat at the hands of Bayern Munich, where they were left with ten players after Jens Castrop was sent off in the 19th minute. Despite their efforts to maintain a clean sheet, they conceded three goals within the final half hour. Consequently, they have now gone 15 Bundesliga matches without a win, with their last triumph coming against RB Leipzig in March.

However, they managed to avoid an upset in their recent Pokal clash against second-tier Karlsruher. Goals from Shuto Machino, Nico Elvedi, and Haris Tabaković led to a 3-1 victory, marking Eugen Polanski’s first win as interim manager.

Desperate to carry this success into Saturday’s match, Gladbach finds themselves at the bottom of the table, with four points separating them from safety. While their defensive showing has been subpar, they are also the league’s lowest-scoring team, netting just six goals this season.

They have struggled to start matches strongly, having scored only one goal in the first hour of their eight Bundesliga games thus far.

The visitors will be without injured players Fabio Chiarodia, Robin Hack, Nathan Ngoumou, and Tim Kleindienst, while Castrop is suspended following his red card against Bayern last weekend.

Predicted lineup: Nicolas; Sander, Elvedi, Diks; Honorat, Reitz, Engelhardt, Netz; Machino, Stöger, Tabaković