Mainz vs. Gladbach preview: The 05ers try to escape the bottom two
Gladbach travel to Mainz, who now are more hopeful of their survival chances under new trainer Bo Henriksen.
Mainz
After defeating Augsburg the week before, Mainz narrowly lost to world-class Leverkusen last week, signaling there’s a chance to stay up under Bo Henriksen. Still, the side need to start scoring goals soon, as they’ve only put away 18 in 23 games.They’ll likely continue with a back three formation this weekend with Karim Onisiwo leading the front line. It looks like the relegation race will come down to the last few weekends of the season and three points against Gladbach would be huge, especially with Bayern and Leipzig on the schedule over the next few weeks.
Henriksen said, “Just playing well is not enough, we need the points. - I'm only thinking about winning the game. You can only achieve something if you believe in it."
Team News
Jonathan Burkardt will play after returning to team training this week, while Ludovic Ajorque is questionable. Jessic Ngankam and Anthony Caci are suspended, while Nelson Weiper, Stefan Bell and Andreas Hanche-Olsen are expected to remain out.
Gladbach
It’s been another underwhelming season for Gladbach, but they surprisingly went wild offensively last weekend in a big 5-2 win over Bochum. Gladbach have one of the easier league schedules to close out the season and there’s still a decent chance they could finish in the top half of the table.Their problem has been finding some sort of defensive stability, as the side have the 3rd-worst goals allowed record. Luckily, several key defenders will return to the back line on Saturday, as Gerardo Seoane needs to keep winning if he wants any chance of keeping his job for next season.
In his presser, Seoane stated, "We have a clear picture of what awaits us in Mainz on Saturday. They've changed their style of play under their new coach. They now play with a lot of energy at home and press aggressively - it won't be easy."
Team News
Jonas Omlin is still questionable, while Ko Itakura and Nico Elvedi will be back in the team. Tomas Cvancara, Alassane Plea, Mamadou Doucoure and Luca Netz are all unlikely to feature.