Bochum vs. RB Leipzig preview: Die Roten Bullen looking to bounce back
After being knocked out of the Champions League with a demoralising 7-0 defeat to Manchester City in midweek, RB Leipzig will be looking for a response when they face Bochum on Saturday.
| Photo: RB Leipzig/OneFootball |
Bochum
After losing four consecutive games, Bochum finally returned to winning ways last weekend, claiming a 2-0 away win over FC Köln. Kevin Stöger gave his side an early lead from the penalty spot, and the three points were sealed when Erhan Mašović added a second in the 79th minute.
The result lifted Bochum off the bottom of the table and moved them out of the bottom three altogether.
Although they have picked up 16 of their 22 points from home matches this season, Bochum have lost their last two matches at the Vonovia Ruhrstadion without troubling the scorers. They are now at risk of losing three consecutive Bundesliga home games without scoring for the first time since the 1998-99 season.
If Bochum can find the net then they will be hoping it is the first goal, as all 16 of their home points have been collected after they opened the scoring.
Team News
Bochum are still without the services of injured trio Christian Antwi-Adjej, Simon Zoller and Cristian Gamboa.
RB Leipzig
Marco Rose will have to pick his side up after they were hammered 7-0 in the second leg of their Champions League last-16 tie with Manchester City. Although Leipzig will be disappointed by the midweek result, they are still firmly in the battle to finish in the top four, while they also have a DFB-Pokal quarter-final tie with Borussia Dortmund to look forward to.
The third-placed side have won three of their last four league matches after they swept aside Borussia Monchengladbach by a 3-0 scoreline last weekend. With Leipzig currently level on 45 points with the two teams behind them in the league table, they will want to avoid any slip-ups on Saturday.
Leipzig will certainly draw confidence from their impressive head-to-head record with Bochum. Die Roten Bullen have won all eight of their competitive games against Saturday’s opponents, including a comfortable 4-0 victory when the two sides met in October.
Team News
Xaver Schlager, Christopher Nkunku, Abdou Diallo and Peter Gulacsi are all ruled out for the visitors through injury.