Werder Bremen vs Augsburg preview: Can the hosts clinch safety?

Werder Bremen

While it’s not quite official, Werder Bremen took a big step towards securing safety last weekend.

First, on Saturday, they had a handful of results go their way. St. Pauli were beaten by last-place Heidenheim, while Wolfsburg were held to a point at home by Borussia Mönchengladbach. That was already good enough, but then both Köln and Hamburg also lost.

That gave Bremen an opening, and they took advantage of it. Away to top-four VfB Stuttgart, the visitors took the lead midway through the first half, and despite conceding later on they still did enough to secure a draw. It was a good result and a good performance.

With all those scores in mind, the Bundesliga table is looking quite nice. Werder jumped up to 12th, a remarkable achievement considering they were in legitimate danger of automatic relegation a few months ago. The most important thing is that they are six points clear of 16th and seven points clear of 17th place.

If the Green-Whites are going to go down, they will have to collapse and have all the teams below them go on winning runs. That’s unlikely, but it’s not impossible, which is why the club will want to officially put their worries to bed with a win here.

The test will be tough, but Bremen will still fancy their chances of clinching all three points. They will be at home, in front of a fanbase that is growing increasingly pleased and hopeful by the week. The defense has been solid, while those in the final third have provided moments of magic in key moments.

A lot of eyes will be on Jens Stage, Werder’s goalscoring midfielder. He’s on fire at the moment, and another goal here could vault him into the headlines and secure his team’s Bundesliga status for another year.

Team news
Bremen did gain a few faces who returned from the injury list, but they are still without long-term absences like Karl Hein, Keke Topp, Mitchell Weiser, Julian Malatini and Felix Agu, while Leonardo Bittencourt is also set to miss out.

Predicted lineups
Backhaus, Sugawara, Pieper, Friedl, Coulibaly, Deman, Puertas, Lynen, Stage, Schmid, Milosevic

Augsburg

This will go down as another solid season for FC Augsburg, and it might end up being a great one if they pull off a minor miracle.

They went into last weekend with legitimate European hopes, but those were dashed when they only tied at home to Eintracht Frankfurt, one of their direct rivals. It was an especially tough pill to swallow since FCA had the lead. However, a Ritsu Doan goal in the 66th minute meant that the gap between the sides remained at six points.

Augsburg won’t give up hope, as they still have three games to go, and a perfect run to end the campaign might just sneak them into one of the international spots. With that being the mentality, they’ll be going into this game with the sole focus of picking up a victory.

Their recent run is a bit odd, though. Die Fuggerstädter have not lost a single game in the month of April. Then again they’ve only won one of those matches, and they lost all three contests in the previous month. It’s not the best way to wrap up the season.

This is still Augsburg at the end of the day. Bundesliga fans have come to learn what to expect every time they step onto the field, whether they like it or not. They are going to be physical, make it hard on the opposition, and carve out opportunities when the moment arises. When you set a standard that high, you’ll always have a chance.

FCA aren’t going anywhere anytime soon, and they are aiming to play the role of spoiler once again this Saturday.

Team news
Augsburg are very fortunate on the injury front, as their only absentee is Mads Pedersen.

Predicted lineups
Dahmen, Chaves, Gouweleeuw, Zesiger, Fellhauer, Massengo, Rieder, Giannoulis, Kade, Claude-Maurice, Gregoritsch