St. Pauli vs. HSV preview: Nordderby relegation six-pointer at Millerntor | OneFootball

Bottom-placed St. Pauli host fellow relegation-threatened neighbours Hamburger SV on Friday night under Millerntor’s floodlights. Both teams are looking for their first wins of the new year.

St. Pauli

Alexander Blessin’s side ended the first half of the season with a three-game unbeaten run, but they started the new year on the wrong foot. After their home game against RB Leipzig was postponed due to adverse weather conditions, St. Pauli lost away at Wolfsburg and Borussia Dortmund.

Although they have a game in hand compared to the three teams above them, the 3-2 defeat at Signal Iduna Park saw them drop into the bottom of the standings for the first time this season.

However, their performance deserved better as an easily avoidable injury-time penalty-kick denied them a comeback draw from a two-goal deficit. It was the reverse of the corresponding fixture on the opening day when St. Pauli scored twice in the last five minutes to salvage a 3-3 draw against Dortmund.

Team News

January signing Tomoya Ando will hope for a first start after making his debut off the bench on Saturday. Adam Dzwigala could lose his place if the Japanese center-back is ready for the assignment. At the other end, Ricky-Jade Jones would fancy his chances ahead of Martijn Kaars after his eventful application in Dortmund.

HSV

Similarly, HSV failed to keep their momentum since the restart of the Bundesliga. Including huge wins over Stuttgart and Wolfsburg, the newly-promoted side were unbeaten in their last four home games of 2025.

Merlin Polzin’s team started the new year with a defeat in Freiburg before a goalless draw with Borussia Mönchengladbach. However, they also produced a promising performance on matchday 18 as they played Gladbach off the park.

HSV are currently four points adrift of the relegation/promotion spot, while they have a game in hand against Bayer Leverkusen, which will be played at the start of March. Before they dream of extending their unbeaten home record against league leaders Bayern Munich, a derby victory would do wonders for creating more breathing space.

Team News

Warmed Omari could make his return from injury for his first appearance since October, while fellow center-back Guilherme Ramos has been released by the club to complete a move to Beijing Guoan. New signing Damion Downs is expected to start once again, although he is yet to register a direct goal involvement.

Predicted Lineups

St. Pauli: Vasilj; Dzwigala, Wahl, Mets; Pyrka, Sands, Smith ©, Oppie; Fujita, Kaars, Pereira Lage

HSV: Heuer Fernandes; Capaldo ©, Vuskovic, Elfadli; Jatta, Fabio Vieira, Remberg, Muheim; Königsdörffer, Downs, Dompé