Hoffenheim vs. Mainz preview: Can Hoffenheim win their first game in November?
Failing to win in their last two games, Hoffenheim want to push on further into the European spots. Mainz, however, hope to get out of the bottom three on Sunday afternoon.
Hoffenheim
Hoffenheim will want to rectify errors made in a poor showing last time out against Augsburg in the 1-1 draw. Also in this game, Hoffenheim had a lower xG than Augsburg and failed to test a weak defence.
After the draw last match day against Augsburg, Hoffenheim manager Pellegrino Matarazzo said: “The overwhelming feeling today is disappointment."
The Hoffenheim coach also went on to state that a point really isn't good enough and insinuated that Hoffenheim need to start winning again if they want to cement a european place.
Adding to this, Hoffenheim have only managed to win one of their past five Bundesliga encounters with Mainz which proves that perhaps they will need to rewrite history to come up with something against them.
Despite this, with a win on Sunday, Hoffenheim can overtake Borussia Dortmund and finish the week at fifth in the league and potentially widen the gap between them and Eintracht Frankfurt to four points.
Team News
Dennis Geiger is out with a groin issue and Marco John is out with a knee injury. Apart from this, both Mergim Berisha and Stanley Nsoki will be missing also due to knee injuries. No doubtful players are to be expected for Hoffenheim.
Mainz
Mainz played out a 0-0 away draw against Darmstadt last match day and will hope to improve on that result massively. With only a single shot on target, Mainz failed to create any big chances.
This has been in line with their poor form in-front of goal this season as they have only scored eleven (second lowest) goals this campaign in the Bundesliga.
However, their record against Hoffenheim has been strong in recent times with Mainz winning four out of the last six games against Hoffenheim in the Bundesliga.
The board have also seemed happy enough to keep Jan Siewert as manager for the time being as the Mainz sporting director Martin Schmidt said after the Darmstadt game: "Today's game didn't contradict the fact that we have to change something. Again, four points, he stabilized us, that was a good start for Jan Siewert."
Team News
Mainz are currently experiencing an injury crisis with these players unavailable for them: Karim Onisiwo (ankle) ,Nelson Weiper (hamstring), Josuha Guilavogui (hamstring), Maxim Leitsch (muscular), Andreas Hanche-Olsen (ankle), Sepp Van Den Berg (suspension) and Dominik Kohr (suspension).