Augsburg vs. Mainz preview: Which club can turn their momentum around?

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·19 settembre 2025

Augsburg vs. Mainz preview: Which club can turn their momentum around?

Augsburg vs. Mainz kicks off on Saturday, the 20th of September at the WWK Arena. This matchup promises to be what it traditionally was over the last few years: a battle of two underdog sides, of which at least one usually has a surprisingly good season!

The game pits Sandro Wagner’s newly rebuilt Augsburg side against Bo Henriksen’s Mainz and both teams will be desperate to turn early-season momentum into consistency after mixed starts to 2025/26.

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Both teams hoped to be better off three games into the new season: Mainz only collected one point and sit in 15th, while Augsburg lost twice after their surprise victory over Freiburg on matchday 1, making them rank 11th in the table currently.

It‘s clearly visible that both teams are still struggling to find consistency, but the reasons for it are quite different: Augsburg are still finding a settled identity under Wagner and had to battle unlucky injury problems; Mainz on the other hand are a more established side, but had to deal with balancing league duties with their European involvement this season - something that could very much hurt them over the course of this campaign!

What‘s both teams‘ tactical approach to this game?

Augsburg under Wagner have begun moving towards a more vertical style - quicker out of possession, looking to press higher and exploit full-back runs. They’ll likely rely on physical forwards to hold the ball and midfielders who can turn defense into attack swiftly. Set pieces could be an emphasis given Augsburg’s aerial options.
Mainz generally set up compactly under Bo Henriksen, with an emphasis on organized defensive shape and quick, often wide, counters. They will try to exploit any space left by Augsburg’s forward-minded full-backs and will look to midfield runners and late arrivals into the box to create chances.

Recent head-2-head comparison:

Recent H2H trends give Mainz a slight edge. Over the last five competitive fixtures between Augsburg and Mainz, Mainz have come out on top more often (Mainz 3 wins, Augsburg 1 win in the last five), and historically the pair have produced fairly entertaining games (average goals-per-game-ratio in the last 5 games: 2.6).

That recent dominance by Mainz is something Augsburg will be keen to reverse in front of their home crowd!

One notable thing is the amount of red cards in the last few games: four players have been sent off in this matchup in the last 5 games!

Team news and predictions:

For Augsburg, left-back Dimitrios Giannoulis, a key player in Wagner‘s plans, is likely to still miss this game due to injury. Kristian Jakić and Keven Schlotterbeck are also not confirmed to be available for Saturday. Samuel Essende on the other hand will definitely miss the game, due to a red card.

Mainz will most likely have to rely on Nelson Weiper as their number nine, while Benedict Hollerbach is still recovering from an injury. It‘s questionable, whether Jae-sung Lee will be available, too.

This game should be a tight, cagey affair early on: Augsburg will try to press and force turnovers high up the pitch, while Mainz will be compact and look to hit quickly on the break.

Expect both managers to be pragmatic: Wagner eager to build confidence at home; Henriksen aiming to grind out a result and regain a bit of momentum. Given Mainz’s recent H2H edge and Augsburg’s home advantage plus a fresh coaching voice, the match could go either way — small margins and which side executes transitions better will determine the winner in this one.

Since Mainz have had the more difficult run of games before this match, in which they still showed their class in a few phases of each game, I‘d give Bo Henriksen‘s side the slight edge this time around - but don‘t be surprised if it turns out to be a draw, like it was the last time these teams faced each other.