Union Berlin vs. St. Pauli preview: Visitors continue survival fight | OneFootball

Union Berlin

Union Berlin are sitting in ninth spot after winning eight, drawing seven and losing 12 of their 27 league games this season. Die Eisernen would have been grateful for the timing of the international break, giving them time to reset after losing three of their last four matches. After losing to Borussia Mönchengladbach and Werder Bremen, Union returned to winning ways with a narrow 1-0 victory against Freiburg at the Europa-Park Stadion. However, they were no match for Bayern Munich in their final outing before the international window, as they fell to a heavy 4-0 defeat to the league leaders at the Allianz Arena. 

Steffen Baumgart’s side will now return home to the Stadion An der Alten Försterei, where they have won just once in their last five outings (D2, L2). While that record may be underwhelming, Union can take confidence from the fact that they have won each of their last five competitive home games against St. Pauli. They also enjoyed a successful outing in November’s reverse fixture, picking up a 1-0 victory thanks to Rani Khedira’s first-half effort. 

Team News

Union are unable to call upon the services of goalkeeper Matheo Raab and winger David Preu due to injury.

Predicted lineup: Rønnow; Doekhi, Querfeld, Leite; Haberer, Khedira, Kemlein, Köhn; Schäfer, Burcu; Ilić

St. Pauli

St. Pauli are languishing in the relegation playoff spot after winning six, drawing six and losing 15 of their 27 league games this season. Alexander Blessin’s side have a three-point cushion to the automatic relegation spots, while they are two points adrift of FC Köln in 15th position. 

With Köln set to face Eintracht Frankfurt at 17:30pm on Sunday, St. Pauli know that a win over Union would be enough to move them out of the bottom three, at least for a couple of hours. However, achieving three points will be easier said than done for a team that are winless in three Bundesliga matches. After playing out a goalless draw against Frankfurt, St. Pauli fell to back-to-back defeats against Gladbach and Freiburg. 

The Kiezkicker head into Sunday’s contest with the second-worst away record in the division, having won two, drawn two, and lost 10 of their 14 road trips this season. That record will temper their hopes of claiming their first away win over Union since picking up a 2-0 victory in October 2011. 

Team News

St. Pauli will head into Sunday’s fixture without James Sands, Eric Smith, Simon Spari, Manolis Saliakas, Tomoya Ando and Ricky-Jade Jones. 

Predicte lineup: Vasilj; Dźwigała, Wahl, Mets; Pyrka, Rasmussen, Irvine, Oppie; Fujita, Pereira Lage; Sinani