SV Darmstadt 98 - SV Sandhausen

Darmstadt to see off Sandhausen this weekend

TEAM NEWS

Darmstadt’s Rouven Sattelmaier and Selim Gunduz are out with knee injuries.

Sandhausen’s Tim Knipping, Nejmeddin Daghfous, and Karim Guede are all out with different injuries. 

Darmstadt

Suspended: None

Doubtful: None

Injured/unavailable: Rouven Sattelmaier, Selim Gunduz (both knee)

Sandhausen

Suspended: None

Doubtful: None

Injured/unavailable: Tim Knipping (broken foot), Nejmeddin Daghfous (calf), Karim Guede (knee)

MATCH PREVIEW

MAIN PREDICTION: HOME WIN

Darmstadt have picked up three wins and one defeat from four league games and are one point behind leaders Cologne, who are on ten. After winning 1-0 against Paderborn at Bollenfalltor on the opening weekend, Dirk Schuster’s men were beaten 2-0 by St. Pauli but then followed that up with a 3-0 victory against rock-bottom Duisburg on home soil. The team scored early in their latest league outing before the international break to take all three points again against Heidenheim at Voith Arena in a 1-0 win. The result means the Lilies have kept a clean sheet in three of their four league matches and have the joint best defence with two conceded, together with Holstein Kiel and Union Berlin.

After drawing 0-0 with Union Berlin at Hardtwald Stadium two weeks ago, Kenan Kocak’s Sandhausen are still waiting for their first win of the season. The club have drawn one and lost three of their four league encounters so far and one point from a possible 12 in the league leaves Sandhausen in a lowly 17^thspot. Furthermore, only rock-bottom Duisburg have scored even fewer than Sandhausen's one goal.

This will no doubt be another hard league match for Sandhausen, although Kocak’s men won 2-1 last season when they travelled to Bollenfalltor. Nevertheless, I can see Darmstadt picking up their third win in a row.

SECOND PREDICTION: CORRECT SCORE – 1-0

Two of Darmstadt’s three league wins have been secured by 1-0 scorelines and this has the potential to be another tight match on Saturday, with Sandhausen conceding only once in their last two league matches. I fancy another 1-0 win for the hosts.

HEAD TO HEAD

There have only been two league meetings between these teams at Bollenfalltor over the past four years, with each team winning one. Last season, Sandhausen held Darmstadt to a 1-1 draw at home, but lost 2-1 away.