Augsburg vs. Gladbach preview: Can die Fohlen claim back-to-back victories?
Augsburg
Augsburg have experienced a difficult start to the season, having won just one of their opening five league matches. The Fuggerstädter kicked off the campaign with a draw against Werder Bremen and a defeat to Heidenheim. Augsburg went on to enjoy a successful outing on matchday three, claiming a 3-1 home victory over newly-promoted St. Pauli.
Rather than build upon that win, Augsburg have gone on to lose back-to-back matches. They fell to a narrow defeat to Mainz, before they were swept aside in last Saturday’s home meeting with RB Leipzig. A Benjamin Šeško brace and goals from Loïs Openda and Xavi Simons condemned Augsburg to a heavy 4-0 defeat at the Red Bull Arena.
After losing a sixth consecutive away league game, the Fuggerstädter will be looking forward to returning to home surroundings on Friday. The hosts will fancy their chances of troubling the scorers after netting seven goals across their first three home games of the season.
Team News
The hosts are unable to call upon Robert Gumny, Daniel Klein, Reece Oxford and Ruben Vargas. Meanwhile, Samuel Essende remains suspended after being sent off against Leipzig.
Gladbach
Gladbach have experienced a mixed start to the season, having won two and lost three of their opening five matches. After losing to Bayer Leverkusen and beating Bochum, Gladbach went on to lose consecutive games to Stuttgart and Eintracht Frankfurt. Die Fohlen managed to bounce back with a positive result in last Saturday’s home meeting with Union Berlin. The contest looked set to finish in a goalless draw until Tomáš Čvančara snatched all three points with a stoppage-time winner.
After claiming their second win of the season, Gerardo Seoane's side are sitting in 11th position and two points better off than Friday’s opponents. Die Fohlen are now hoping to clinch back-to-back league victories in the same season for the first time since March 2022. However, their hopes of claiming maximum points may be tempered by the fact they failed to win either of their two matches against Augsburg last season (D1, L1).
Team News
Gladbach are without the services of Jan Olschowsky, Jonas Omlin, Nathan Ngoumou and Franck Honorat.