FC Ingolstadt - 1.FC Kaiserslautern

In the last game of the year, one day before Christmas meet Ingolstadt and Kaiserslautern each other. After three defeats in a row and slipped down to seventh place according to the good results of the opponents but could jump with a win to third place and at the same time close the gap on second placed Greuther Fürth back to four Points. Ingolstadt is only above the red zone due to their good goal difference but would fall down with a defeat by two or more goals to place 17. For both teams, therefore, the game has an enormous importance also in view of a quiet winter break.

Ingolstadt wants to brush up their weak home record before the winter break, because with only six points from eight home games they are the worst team on home soil in the league. Once again Coach Hasenhüttl counts on the same eleven as last week in Aue 0-0 where they remained undefeated for the fifth time in a row. Nevertheless one time he has to change as with suspended defender Matip who booked the red card in Aue must be replaced here. This puts veteran Mijatovic in a good position to play from beginning on the central back alongside with Gunesch. All other positions remain unchanged as mentioned and they would continue their unbeaten run as well.

Kaiserslautern’s coach Runjaic must replace two regulars with the suspended right back Florian Dick and the ill central midfield player Markus Karl what speaks not for a good balanced defensive line. This means that a lot of changes in defensive must be made and some of the players are not on its normal position. First one should be Simunek who is back after his injury and play not in central back as normal, no he is set to play on the right back. Next is Orban who move from central back into the midfield where he must replace ill Karl and the open position in central back play Heintz then. He celebrates his starting debut under Coach Runjaic today. In offensive are also changes possible as they had not the right balance in recent matches and created less and maybe were also too harmless. Above all Marcel Gaus had not his best matches and is a candidate to be replaced according to his bad performances. This is the time from Fortounis who can take advantage from Gaus bad form and move into the starting lineup. But overall after three wins in a row many players are in doubt and must improve a lot, hard task for the Coach to bring his team back on track. 

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