FC St. Pauli - Dynamo Dresden

St. Pauli set to win first home match of the season

TEAM NEWS

St. Pauli are still missing Ryo Miyaichi and Philipp Ziereis, but they have no suspension concerns.

Dresden were dealt a big blow as striker Pascal Testroet suffered a knee injury while the team are also still without midfielder Niklas Hauptmann.

St. Pauli

Suspended: None

Doubtful: None

Injured/unavailable: Ryo Miyaichi (knee), Philipp Ziereis (muscle)

Dresden

Suspended: None

Doubtful: None

Injured/unavailable: Pascal Testroet (knee), Niklas Hauptmann (unspecified)

MATCH PREVIEW

MAIN PREDICTION: HOME WIN

St. Pauli got the season off to a good start and showed a lot of potential in their first game of the campaign at Bochum. They controlled the match, particularly in the first half, and had momentum on their side, registering a narrow 1-0 win. The team were very active in the first part of the game and created excellent attempts on goal without managing to convert them. The second half saw them sit back and wait for fast counterattacks, with one of them leading to the winning goal from Christopher Buchtmann, who – assisted by Sami Allagui – scored with a nice shot outside the box. In the end it was impressive team work by all players involved that secured St. Pauli’s first win of the opener.

As expected, Dresden experienced a tough start to the campaign when hosting Duisburg last weekend, but they managed to clinch a win, with new signing Lucas Roser scoring the match winner two minutes from time with a header after getting on the end of a great cross from Niklas Kreuzer. Although the team had more good attempts on goal they were not able to beat Duisburg’s ‘keeper Mark Flekken who had an incredibly good day. However, Dresden gained no joy from winning as their striker Pascal Testroet suffered a serious injury and will be out for the upcoming match. 

Both teams registered a 1-0 win in their season opener, but St. Pauli have so far never lost or even drawn against Dresden at home in 2.Bundesliga and I think their excellent home record against this weekend’s opponents should be enough to hand them another home win.

SECOND PREDICTION: ODD/EVEN – ODD

Although the last meeting between St. Pauli and Dresden ended 2-0 for this weekend’s hosts, overall six of their eight 2.Bundesliga encounters have seen an odd number of goals – and this could quite well be the case again here.

HEAD TO HEAD

St. Pauli’s all-time home record against Dresden in the 2.Bundesliga consists of four wins in four matches, with the team keeping one clean sheet in the most recent encounter in February.