Heidenheim look to drag visitors into relegation scrap

Heidenheim welcome Köln to Swabia on Saturday afternoon, with the hosts looking to lift themselves out of the automatic relegation places, dragging the visitors into the scrap in the process.

Heidenheim 

After an extremely poor start to the season, Heidenheim continued to improve heading into the new year – lifting themselves off the bottom thanks to successive wins against Union Berlin and Freiburg in late November/early December. 

Though losses against St. Pauli and Bayern Munich heading into the break see them still occupy the second automatic relegation spot. 

They welcome Köln to the Voith Arena this weekend, before taking on fellow strugglers Mainz and Wolfsburg in the space of five days. A positive result on Saturday would put them in a strong position to lift themselves out of the drop zone ahead of two crucial fixtures.

Frank Schmidt’s side secured their Bundesliga survival via a play-off win against Elversberg last term, but will aim to avoid the same nerve-racking route this time around.

Team news

Budu Zivzivadze and Frank Feller are both expected to return to the fold in the coming weeks, with the pair suffering from knee injuries. 

Leart Paqarada is not expected to be back in action until May, with a return this season unlikely.

Predicted lineup – 4-3-3: Ramaj – Busch, Mainka, Siersleben, Föhrenbach – Schöppner, Niehues, Dorsch – Ibrahimovic, Pieringer, Honsak 

Köln

Köln’s form stalled heading into the break, with Lukas Kwasniok’s side winless in six matches after beating Hamburg by four goals to one on home soil in early November. 

A 1-0 loss to Union Berlin before the pause leaves the Billy Goats sitting 11th, though the relegation places remain a lot closer than they would have imagined after an impressive start to the season. 

Köln have tallied up 16 points across their opening 15 matches, though 16th-placed St. Pauli sit just four points behind. 

Ahead of a huge tie against Bayern Munich on Wednesday, an away win this weekend would do a lot to settle any nerves that may have materialised over the break. 

Team news

Timo Hübers and Luca Kilian both remain sidelined until the end of the season, while Joel Schmied is expected to return to the fold later this month, after suffering a thigh injury at the end of November.

Rav van den Berg will miss this weekend’s action through suspension.

Predicted lineup – 3-4-2-1: Schwäbe – Sebulonsen, Martel, Heintz – Thielmann, Johannesson, Huseinbasic, Castro-Montes – Kaminski, Bülter – Schenten