2. Bundesliga Saturday Konferenz: Previews, team news and predicted lineups | OneFootball

Three games will be played on Saturday afternoon in 2. Bundesliga. Five teams who started the matchday at the top half of the standings will be in action, including Kaiserslautern’s visit to SC Paderborn.

SC Paderborn vs. 1. FC Kaiserslautern

Kaiserslautern produced another scintillating performance at home last week, with summer signing Ivan Prtajin scoring a hat-trick against Preußen Münster. Torsten Lieberknecht’s side is the most in-form team in the league right now as they have won each of their last games by more than a single-goal margin.

Their hosts also picked up seven points in the same timeframe. Filip Bilbija’s brace helped Paderborn to beat Hertha Berlin at the iconic Olympiastadion last time out. It was one of the most dramatic games of last season when these two teams last met in March. Kaiserslautern tied the score from a three-goal deficit before Paderborn roared back again to win it 5-3 with Aaron Zehnter directly involved in four goals.

Team News

With both teams finding their winning formulas, there could be no changes in either lineup. The visitors will continue to miss Simon Asta and Kenny-Prince Redondo. Marcel Hoffmeier, David Kinsombi and Raphael Obermair are absent from the home side’s matchday squad.

Predicted Lineups:

Paderborn: Seimen; Hansen, Götze ©, Brackelmann; Curda, Castaneda, Baur, Bäuerle; Bilbija, Tigges, Klaas

Kaiserslautern: Krahl; Sirch, Gyamfi, Kim - Joly, Kunze ©, Sahin, Haas; Skyttä; Alidou, Prtajin

SV 07 Elversberg vs. Holstein Kiel

Elversberg and Kiel will only meet for the fifth time in a competitive fixture on Saturday. Goals from Shuto Machino and Philipp Sander helped Kiel to a comfortable win the last time they visited the Ursapharm-Arena an der Kaiserlinde. Incidentally, both players are now plying their trades for Borussia Mönchengladbach.

Last season’s Bundesliga club won their previous two games without conceding a goal after a shaky start to their campaign. Despite the managerial change in the summer, the new-look Elversberg team is still pushing for a promotion season with 13 points from their first six games.

Team News

Elversberg’s emerging star Younes Ebnoutalib will hope to score a brace for the fourth time in a row. Marcel Rapp will not be tempted to make changes from his side that convincingly beat Karlsruhe last week.

Predicted Lineups:

Elversberg: Kristof; Gyamerah, Pinckert ©, Rohr, Keidel; Condé, Poreba; Petkov, Conté, Zimmerschied; Ebnoutalib

Kiel: Krumrey; Zec, Johansson, Komenda; Bernhardsson ©, Davidsen, Knudsen, Tolkin; Kapralik, Therkelsen; Müller

Karlsruher SC vs. 1. FC Magdeburg

A change of scenery hasn’t worked well for Magdeburg, however. The bottom-placed club will face one of their bogey teams on Saturday. Including a 7-0 victory in 2024, Karlsruhe are unbeaten in their last five games against Magdeburg.

Christian Eichner’s side lost for their first time last week with a 3-0 defeat to Kiel. However, they won each of their first three games in front of their supporters this season.

Team News

19-year-old striker Louey Ben Farhat is the only Karlsruhe player currently on the sidelines. As for the visitors, Maximilian Breunig could regain his place in the attack from Alexander Ahl-Holmström.

Predicted Lineups:

Karlsruhe: Bernat; Kobald, Franke, Rapp; Jung, Herold; Egloff, Müller, Wanitzek ©; Förster, Schleusener

Magdeburg: Riemann ©; Hugonet, Mathisen, Müller; Musonda, Nollenberger; Ulrich, Stalmach; Ghrieb, Breunig, Atik