RB Leipzig sit narrowly outside of the top four ahead of Saturday's Bundesliga clash. Mainz are battling to get out of the bottom three but have two league wins in five.
Main Overview
RB Leipzig
Last time out, RB Leipzig humiliated Köln in a 5-1 second half destruction job of Timo Schultz's side. A double from Loïs Openda meant that he moved within three Bundesliga goals of Stuttgart's Serhou Guirassy.
Since losing all three games to start the calendar year, RB Leipzig have recovered since and have only lost once (2-1 against Bayern) in the league since then.
RB Leipzig's two last ties in the Bundesliga have been against two bottom three sides in Darmstadt and Köln, but both ended in a win for Marco Rose's side with seven goals scored between the two ties.
No side in the top five has conceded more than RB Leipzig's thirty-two goals this season in the Bundesliga. Most of all, goalkeeper injury issues with Péter Gulácsi having been out for a large portion of the season have meant large defensive issues.
Mainz
Mainz won their last game against VfL Bochum two-nil thanks to a double from Jonathan Burkardt. The young German returned fully earlier this year following a training camp in Spain.
Both Darmstadt and Köln (the other two relegation-threatened sides) have collected less points than Mainz this year in the Bundesliga.
Mainz have been the joint-best side in the bottom side in 2024, with nine points and level with VfL Bochum. In spite of this, goals have been a struggle as the 05ers have only scored twenty-two this Bundesliga campaign.
Jonathan Burkardt is, however, the carnival side's top scorer in the league this campaign even in spite of injury as he has scored four goals in the Rückrunde.
Lastly ahead of the away tie with the east German side, Mainz coach Bo Henriksen said: "We won there last year but have lost there a lot too. That doesn't count for anything. It's a new match, and we have to do our job on Saturday and give our best."
Team News
Amadou Haidara is suspended as he has accrued five yellow cards.
Stefan Bell is out with illness and Dominik Kohr is out with yellow card suspension. Maxim Leitsch is unavailable with a muscular injury and Brajan Gruda is a doubt with a knock. Nelson Weiper is also doubtful.
Predicted Lineups
Gulácsi; Henrichs, Orban (c), Lukeba, Raum; Olmo, Kampl, Schlager, Xavi; Šeško, Openda
Zentner; Hanche-Olsen, van den Berg, Caci; Widmer (c), Barreiro, Amiri, Mwene; Burkardt, Lee; Ajorque
Match Result
Jürgen Klopp Option for Germany Coach in future, following Red Bull appointment
David Raum out with injury for an extended period
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