1.FC Kaiserslautern - FC Heidenheim

All square at Betzenberg

TEAM NEWS

Kaiserslautern have four players on their injury list as Kacper Przybylko, Patrick Salata, Brandon Borello and Daniel Halfar are all absent. Philipp Mwene saw his fifth yellow card against Bielefeld last weekend and is suspended, as is Benjamin Kessel who was sent off too.

Heidenheim’s Frank Schmidt won’t be able to count on captain Marc Schnatterer and Mathias Wittek, who are both out once again.

Kaiserslautern

Suspended: Philipp Mwene, Benjamin Kessel

Doubtful: None

Injured/unavailable: Kacper Przybylko (foot), Patrick Salata (knee), Daniel Halfar (hip), Brandon Borello (knee)

Heidenheim

Suspended: None

Doubtful: None

Injured/unavailable: Marc Schnatterer (pulled muscle), Mathias Wittek (thigh)

MATCH PREVIEW

MAIN PREDICTION: DRAW

Kaiserslautern’s 3-2 loss against a strong Bielefeld outfit last Friday confirmed their relegation to Germany’s third tier. Despite being 2-0 up until the 62^ndminute, the Red Devils could not hold on to their lead and lost deservedly. It has been a woeful couple of years for Kaiserslautern’s faithful and the team have been nowhere near good enough to compete at this level. Michael Frontzeck’s men go into this one having won just one of their last seven 2. Bundesliga fixtures, with two draws and four losses.

After finishing last season in an incredible sixth place, Heidenheim have been disappointing this term and are currently sitting in 11^th, three points above Greuther Furth in the relegation playoff spot. They made a horrible start to the campaign under Frank Schmidt, winning only two, drawing two and losing seven of their 11 opening fixtures, but managed to turn their season around with a 1-0 win over Nurnberg in October and have lost only six times since then. They are now on a three-match unbeaten streak following their 2-0 win over Sandhausen last Sunday.

With Heidenheim hoping to secure their survival as soon as possible, I can see them picking up a draw at Betzenberg on Sunday. 

SECOND PREDICTION: HILO – HIGH 

Three of Kaiserslautern’s last five games have seen five total goals while Heidenheim’s last four away matches average 3.75 total goals. I predict a high-scoring draw here.

HEAD TO HEAD

Kaiserslautern are unbeaten in their three home encounters against Heidenheim but they have won only one of those matches, drawing the other two. Heidenheim won the reverse fixture 3-2 at home in December.