FC St. Pauli - FC Magdeburg

St. Pauli to seal routine victory on home soil

TEAM NEWS

St. Pauli's Marc Hornschuh, Richard Neudecker, Christopher Buchtmann and Daniel Buballa are all injured and will not be available.

Magdeburg boss Michael Oenning will not be able to count on Aleksandar Ignjovski, who remains out injured. 

St. Pauli 

Suspended: None

Doubtful: None

Injured/unavailable: Marc Hornschuh (spinal disc), Christopher Buchtmann (pulled muscle); Richard Neudecker, Daniel Buballa (both calf)

Magdeburg

Suspended: None

Doubtful: None

Injured/unavailable: Aleksandar Ignjovski (elbow)

MATCH PREVIEW

MAIN PREDICTION: HOME WIN 

St. Pauli are going about their business quietly, sitting just outside the top three in fourth, level on points with third placed Union Berlin. Last weekend, the in-form team made it back-to-back victories when winning 2-0 against Greuther Furth at home. They have been very hard to beat in recent weeks and are on a six-game unbeaten run since losing 1-0 to Holstein Kiel on their own turf back in late October, winning three and drawing three. St. Pauli have claimed three more points on the road than on home soil, but the atmosphere at Millerntor make their home stadium an intimidating place to visit.

Magdeburg, who were a third-division outfit last term, have been experiencing a woeful campaign so far in the second tier. They are currently sitting in 17^th, two points from safety. Michael Oenning’s troops have won just one, drawn eight and lost eight of their 17 league outings and have picked up only two points from the last 24 on offer. On their travels, Magdeburg have lost four on the bounce in league action, crashing to a heavy 3-0 loss at second placed Cologne in their most recent away league game last weekend.

Oenning would love to pick up a good result against St. Pauli before the winter break, but the hosts are clearly the stronger team here. I'll back a home win.

SECOND PREDICTION: ODD/EVEN – EVEN

St. Pauli have won their last two league games by a two-goal margin and I would not be surprised to see a similar outcome here. Back even total goals to be scored here.

HEAD TO HEAD

The teams have met only once in the past decade, with St. Pauli beating Magdeburg 2-1 away earlier this season.