Erzgebirge Aue - Arminia Bielefeld

Very close match expected

TEAM NEWS

Aue are without long-term absentee Nicky Adler while Dimitrij Nazarov saw a red card against Regensburg two weeks ago and is suspended for another two games. Calogero Rizzuto who saw his fifth yellow card against St. Pauli is also on the list of suspended players.

Bielefeld’s Christopher Nothe will be out with a knee problem while Baboucarr Gaye will miss this game with a finger injury. In addition, Brain Behrendt will be unvailable due to suspension.

Aue

Suspended: Dimitrij Nazarov, Calogero Rizzuto

Doubtful: None

Injured/unavailable: Nicky Adler (adductor)

Bielefeld

Suspended: Brian Behrendt

Doubtful: None

Injured/unavailable: Christopher Nothe (knee), Baboucarr Gaye (finger)

MATCH PREVIEW

MAIN PREDICTION: DRAW

Aue managed to arrest their negative run of two defeats by securing two positive results when beating Regensburg 1-0 two weeks ago and drawing 1-1 with St. Pauli 1-1 last time out. The latest draw was a surprise, but the team were lucky in that St. Pauli allowed them to score an easy goal in the second period. Nevertheless, they fought hard to secure their point against a team with much more potential. Aue will now try and build on that result in a bid to register a win in one of their upcoming matches.

Bielefeld were completely outplayed by Ingolstadt in their last home game last Friday. The 3-1 defeat left them frustrated, especially as they had been in control for some parts of the game, but coach Jeff Saibene was pleased with their fighting spirit. However, he can’t get away from the fact that Bielefeld have now lost their last three in a row, conceding seven in the process, after starting the league with five wins, two draws and two defeats.

This game is very hard to predict and I expect a very close one here. Therefore I’ll go with the draw here.

SECOND PREDICTION: TOTAL GOALS – TWO

Aue and Bielefeld have met four times, with two of the four matches producing exactly two goals. With Aue only scoring one or even less in their last four home games and Bielefeld only netting 1.42 on average this season too, this could be another close encounter between these two teams with not many goals scored. I expect two in total.

HEAD TO HEAD

These two teams have met four times at Aue in the 2. Bundesliga, with the hosts winning one whilst registering two draws and one defeat.