2. Bundesliga Saturday Preview: Hannover & Karlsruhe play on the road, Fortuna open doors for all | OneFootball

Three of the top four teams will play away from home on Saturday in 2. Bundesliga. In the afternoon, last season’s Bundesliga clubs Holstein Kiel and Bochum will entertain Hannover and Preußen Münster, respectively.

Meanwhile, Eintracht Braunschweig and Arminia Bielefeld will hope to continue their strong starts to the season. As for Topspiel, Fortuna Düsseldorf will host Karlsruher SC for what will be the first of the five games where the club allow free stadium entrance for spectators.

Holstein Kiel vs. Hannover 96

The hosts came off two 2-0 wins away from home after losing the first two 2. Bundesliga fixtures. USMNT left-back John Tolkin scored his first goals for the club against FC 08 Homburg and Greuther Fürth.

Meanwhile, Hannover are the only team with a perfect record from the first three matchdays of the season. However, they exited the cup in Cottbus as Boris Tomiak missed a penalty-kick in a narrow defeat.

Team News

There are no new injuries in Kiel’s squad as Marcel Rapp is expected to make no changes from last weekend’s starting XI in Fürth. Bayern Munich’s loanee Noel Aseko only played the first-half of the win over Magdeburg, but he’s fit enough to retain his place in Hannover’s lineup.

Predicted Lineups

Kiel: Krumrey; Zec, Johansson, Komenda; Bernhardsson, Knudsen, Wagner, Tolkin; Skrzybski ©, Therkelsen; Harres

Hannover: Noll; Ghita, Tomiak, Okon; Matsuda, Aseko, Leopold ©, Neubauer; Bundu, Rochelt; Pichler

VfL Bochum vs. Preußen Münster

Bochum started the season with hopes of getting back into the Bundesliga at the first time of asking, but Dieter Hecking’s side found it tough in the opening weeks of the Zweite Bundesliga. They lost both of their first two games away from home, including last weekend’s defeat in Schalke after taking the lead with only 25 minutes left to play.

Preußen Münster will be their opponents at Vonovia Ruhrstadion on Saturday afternoon. Alexander Ende’s side played their last three matches at home, including the cup defeat on penalties to Hertha Berlin. Die Adler will be content if they repeat last season’s 15th-placed finish.

Team News

The hosts will be without their captain Matus Bero due to an injury. Gerrit Holtmann will probably keep his place up front following his solid start to the season. Ex-Bayern winger Oliver Batista Meier opened his account for Münster in last weekend’s 2-1 win over Nürnberg.

Predicted Lineups

Bochum: Horn ©; Morgalla, Vogt, Kleine-Bekel; Passlack, Lenz, Wittek; Onyeka, Pannewig; Hofmann, Holtmann

Münster: Schenk; ter Horst, Heuer, Jaeckel, Bolay; Preißinger; Schulz, Hendrix ©, Mees; Lokotsch, Batista Meier

Eintracht Braunschweig vs. Arminia Bielefeld

This will be a game between two early candidates for the surprise of the season. Eintracht Braunschweig continued their impressive 2. Bundesliga start with a remarkable performance against holders VfB Stuttgart in the DFB-Pokal on Tuesday.

As for Bielefeld, they’re the only team to knock out a Bundesliga club in the first round of the cup. Both teams won their first two league games of the season before losing last week to Karlsruhe and Dynamo Dresden, respectively.

Team News

Braunschweig’s center-back Louis Breunig will miss the game after his injury-time red card in Karlsruhe. Similarly, Christopher Lannert and youngster Daniel Richter are suspended for Bielefeld.

Predicted Lineups

Braunschweig: Hoffmann; Ehlers, Köhler ©, Frenkert; Aydin, Marie, Sanchez; Heußer, Kaufmann; Yardimci, Gomez

Bielefeld: Kersken; Hagmann, Schneider, Großer, Handwerker; Russo; Mehlem, Corboz ©; Sarenren Bazee, Grodowski, Boakye

Fortuna Düsseldorf vs. Karlsruher SC

The mood at Düsseldorf is changing slightly with Daniel Thioune’s side winning back-to-back games after a false start. The atmosphere for Saturday night’s game against Karlsruhe will be electric as it’s the first of the five home games this season in their “Fortuna für alle” project.

That means Karlsruhe fans can also attend the game in Düsseldorf free of charge alongside the home supporters. The visitors collected seven points from the first three 2. Bundesliga weekends, and they progressed to the second round of the cup with relative ease.

Team News

New signings Cedric Ittem and Florent Muslija scored the goals in Fortuna’s first league win of the season last week, and there could be another debutant on Saturday in former QPR striker Zan Celar. Louey Ben Farhat and Niclas Dühring are the only absentees for the away side.

Predicted Lineups

Düsseldorf: Kastenmeier ©; Egouli, Oberdorf, Schmidt; El Azzouzi; Lunddal, Rossmann; Alexandropoulos, Appelkamp, Muslija; Itten

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