FC St. Pauli - Dynamo Dresden

St. Pauli to pull off win over inconsistent visitors

TEAM NEWS

St. Pauli's Marc Hornschuh, Waldemar Sobota, Park Yi Young and Luca-Milan Zander, Richard Neudecker are all injured and will not be available against Dresden.

Dresden's Marco Hartmann and Florian Ballas have been ruled out while Patrick Moschl is also out with an injury to his stomach muscles and the time of his return is unknown.

St. Pauli

Suspended: None

Doubtful: None

Injured/unavailable: Marc Hornschuh (spinal disc), Luca-Milan Zander (ankle), Waldemar Sobota (pulled muscle), Park Yi Young (not fit), Richard Neudecker (calf)

Dresden

Suspended: None

Doubtful: None

Injured/unavailable: Florian Ballas (shoulder), Marco Hartmann (rib), Patrick Moschl (thigh)

MATCH PREVIEW

MAIN PREDICTION: HOME WIN

St. Pauli will have been disappointed with their results from the last two rounds, having registered back-to-back draws against 11^thplaced Heidenheim and Jahn Regensburg in eighth, with both league games ending 1-1. Despite sitting in fourth, the side have been finding goals hard to come by lately, having found the back of the net only five times over the last five league games. Their 20 goals so far this season also makes them the second lowest scorers in the top half.

Dresden have responded well after their harsh defeat away at Cologne in round 13. After their 8-1 thrashing at Rhein Energie Stadium before the international break, the side beat bottom side Ingolstadt 2-0 at DDV Arena last time out, with both their goals arriving within the first 15 minutes. However, they enjoyed a numerical advantage for the majority of the league match, with Dresden having had a man sent off in the fifth minute. With six wins, three draws and five losses so far, Dresden are sitting in a respectable tenth place with 21 points.

St. Pauli have been producing good results so far and with only four points separating them from the leaders, they will have an eye on the top two. I expect an entertaining home win for the hosts from Hamburg this weekend.

SECOND PREDICTION: ODD/EVEN – EVEN

The last three league encounters between St. Pauli and Dresden have seen even total goals. I’m backing a repeat of this here.

HEAD TO HEAD

Four of the last five league meetings between St. Pauli and Dynamo have ended in favour of St. Pauli at Millerntor, with the other one ending in a draw.