VfL Bochum - FC Ingolstadt 04

Bochum to pick up vital victory on home turf

TEAM NEWS

Bochum's Jannik Bandowski, Milos Pantovic and Florian Kraft are still working on their comebacks and are unavailable.

Ingolstadt are without midfield player Christian Trasch, who has suffered a knee injury and could be out until the end of the year, while Almog Cohen is still absent too but is working on his comeback.

Bochum

Suspended: None

Doubtful: None

Injured/unavailable: Jannik Bandowski, Milos Pantovic (both knee); Florian Kraft (finger)

Ingolstadt

Suspended: None

Doubtful: None

Injured/unavailable: Christian Trasch (knee), Almog Cohen (ligaments)

MATCH PREVIEW

MAIN PREDICTION: HOME WIN

Bochum responded well after their 2-0 opening day defeat at home to Cologne. After that unlucky loss, the side won two in a row, beating bottom two teams Duisburg and Sandhausen without conceding a single goal. However, they struggled again in their last league fixture as they only managed to hold Paderborn to a 2-2 draw on the road, despite enjoying a 2-1 lead until the 79^thminute. Nevertheless, coach Robin Dutt will have been pleased with that point. Bochum have scored five goals in their last three league matches and have conceded two.

Ingolstadt’s season has finally come to life, with the team finally securing a win in round four. A 3-2 home triumph to struggling Aue lifted the Schanzer into 12^thplace. However, Ingolstadt have not won on the road in the league games so far, losing 2-1 at Jahn Regensburg and drawing 1-1 with newly-promoted Magdeburg. The fact that they have scored at least one goal in all of their four league outings will definitely boost their confidence though.

Ingolstadt will be hoping to make it back-to-back wins on Sunday. However, Bochum are on a slightly better run and should be too strong, especially whilst enjoying the home advantage. I predict a home win.

SECOND PREDICTION: ODD/EVEN – ODD

Four of the last six league meetings between the pair have resulted in odd total goals and I can see this happening again in Bochum this weekend.

HEAD TO HEAD

There has not been a draw between Bochum and Ingolstadt since September 2012, eight league meetings ago. Since then, Ingolstadt have won four while Bochum have won the last three.