Union Berlin - MSV Duisburg

Union to make it three home wins in a row on Friday

TEAM NEWS

Union Berlin will once again be without the long-term injured Suleiman Abdullahi and Sebastian Polter - additional are Fabian Schonheim, Marc Torrejon and Joshua Mees unavailable.

Duisburg’s John Verhoek has a shoulder issue which will keep him out of this clash on Friday. Meanwhile, Enis Hajri is recovering from an ankle injury while the long-term injured Christian Gartner is expected to be out for the remainder of the year.

Union Berlin

Suspended: None

Doubtful: None

Injured/unavailable: Sebastian Polter (Achilles), Suleiman Abdullahi (ankle), Fabian Schonheim (knee), Marc Torrejon, Joshua Mees (both pulled muscle)

Duisburg

Suspended: None

Doubtful: None

Injured/unavailable: Christian Gartner (knee), Enis Hajri (ankle), John Verhoek (shoulder)

MATCH PREVIEW

MAIN PREDICTION: HOME WIN

Despite beating Aue 1-0 and St. Pauli 4-1 at Alte Forsterei, Union Berlin have only managed to draw with Cologne and Sandhausen on the road. Union were the better of two average teams two weeks ago against second-from-bottom Sandhausen, but they did not find the net in that 0-0 draw despite creating the biggest chance two meters from goal with Grischa Promel failing to score the winner. 

Duisburg are one of just four teams yet to pick up a win in the league after succumbing to a 1-0 defeat at home against Greuther Furth in their last league outing. They have lost all four league matches without scoring a single goal and are unsurprisingly sitting at the bottom of the table. However, Iliya Gruev’s side did record a 1-0 victory over lower-division outfit TuS Dassendorf in the cup last month – their only competitive win so far since the start of the new term.  

Union Berlin will be looking for a big victory in this one and I predict a comfortable home win on Friday.

SECOND PREDICTION: FIRST TEAM TO SCORE – UNION BERLIN

Duisburg haven’t managed to open the scoring so far in their four league games while Union Berlin have been first team on the scoresheet in both of their home league matches. Expect that pattern to continue.

HEAD TO HEAD

The teams have met only four times in league action over the course of the last five years, with their two league meetings last season both ending level. During the 2015-16 league campaign, Union Berlin and Duisburg both registered a home win.