1. FC Heidenheim vs. TSG Hoffenheim preview: Champions League chasers seek to avoid another upset
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Hoffenheim will aim to end their recent habit of dropping points to relegation-threatened sides when they'll be on the road to face bottom-placed Heidenheim.
Heidenheim
Frank Schmidt's troops qualified to the European Conference League at the end of their debut Bundesliga season. Although they have only survived via the playoff last term, this has been their worst campaign in top-flight football. Back-to-back wins against Union Berlin and Freiburg seemed to boost their survival hopes, but last week's defeat in Bremen extended their winless run to 11 games.
They have only picked up three points in this abysmal run, which means they sit second from bottom in top-five leagues standings only ahead of Ligue 1's Metz. The points gap between Heidenheim and the team in the relegation/promotion playoff spot is now eight after their loss in the six-pointer in Bremen.
Hoffenheim
Christian Ilzer's side won each of their five games in the first month of the new year to climb to the top three of the standings. Despite picking up only four points in as many matches in February, they still hold on to their advantage in the race for a direct spot in the Champions League league phase.
The heavy defeat to Bayern Munich is less damaging with the level of their opponents and an early red card for Kevin Akpoguma. However, they should've done much better than picking up a single point from their last couple of games against relegation-battling sides Köln and St. Pauli. Another disappointing result away at the cellar-dwellers could even see them dropping outside the top five.
Hoffenheim are unbeaten in all previous head-to-head clashes in Heidenheim's short-lived Bundesliga spell. The minnows first experienced a Bundesliga atmosphere at home against this exact opponents when Pellegrino Matarazzo's side came from two goals deficit to win 3-2 at Voith-Arena. Three draws followed before Hoffenheim's comfortable 3-1 victory in the reverse fixture this season.
Team News
Both coaches could repeat the lineups from matchday 24 as there are no new injuries or suspensions for this game.
Predicted Lineups
Heidenheim: Ramaj; Kölle, Mainka ©, Siersleben; Traoré, Niehues, Behrens; Dorsch; Dinkci, Ibrahimovic; Conteh
Hoffenheim: Baumann ©; Coufal, Hranac, Kabak, Hajdari; Avdullahu, Prömel, Burger; Kramarić, Asllani, Touré
