Hertha BSC vs. Mainz preview: Schwarz faces his former club
At 20 points and barely clear of the mess at the bottom of the table, Sandro Schwarz needs a home win against his former club, who have won their last four Bundesliga games.
Hertha BSC
The blue capital club were crushed last week away to Leverkusen after winning two of their previous three league games. There’s a major 7-point gap between themselves and 13th-place Augsburg that Hertha need to close in order to distance themselves from the relegation fight.
Hertha are hoping to claim their third straight win at home and the attack may be reinforced with Wilfried Kanga, who is questionable. Die Alte Dame have given up 22 goals in their last eight matches and have only scored nine goals themselves.
Sandro Schwarz, who coached in various roles at Mainz from 2013 to 2019 said, "I experienced a lot of nice moments in Mainz and there will be a lot of familiar faces. Obviously, I am looking forward to that. But, I am also now looking forward to competing in this game against Mainz with my boys!"
Team News
Chidera Ejuke, Kelian Nsona and Jean-Paul Boëtius will not play. Wilfried Kanga is questionable after recovering from a toe injury.
Mainz
Mainz have quietly sneaked up to 7th in the standings and could very well claim a spot in Europe for next season. With their narrow 1-0 win over Hoffenheim on Matchday 23, they’ve now won four straight league matches.
Jae-sung Lee is in stunning form and Andreas Hanche-Olsen has improved the back line since his winter move from Gent. Ludovic Ajorque has also shown his quality since his own move during the break and he’ll likely start again if Karim Onisiwo can’t go.
Bo Svensson stated, "I get along very well with Sandro, we were colleagues for years. There is a lot of respect there and we know each other well. - Our current winning streak has no influence on the work we are doing and we will continue as we have done on a day-to-day basis."
Team News
Onisiwo returned to team training on Thursday, but his status remains questionable for Saturday’s contest. Dominik Kohr remains a doubt and Jonathan Burkardt is still out with a knee injury.