FC Augsburg vs. Hamburger SV preview: Team news and predicted lineups | OneFootball

Augsburg and Hamburg have only added a single point since matchday 6 in the first week of October. The two teams will clash horns with three points at stake in one of the early Saturday matchups.

FC Augsburg

Despite plenty of calls for his dismissal, Augsburg are still trusting their inexperienced coach, Sandro Wagner. The former Germany international was a Bayern Munich striker in Hamburg’s first-ever relegation season.

He has now started his Bundesliga managerial career on the wrong foot after seven defeats from the first ten matches. If they lose against the newly-promoted side on Saturday, it will be a fourth successive defeat for the second time in the early campaign.

However, there were plenty of positives for the Bavarians before the international break. They led an in-form Stuttgart side twice as Fabian Rieder continued his goal-scoring run against his former club. Deniz Undav’s brace eventually wins it for Sebastian Hoeneß’s side with the winner scored in the 80th minute.

Team News

The captain, Jeffrey Gouweleeuw, suffered yet another ligament injury on his long-awaited return in Stuttgart. Chrislain Matsima and Dimitrios Giannoulis saw their fourth yellow cards in that game, and they will be suspended for a game with the next caution. Kristijan Jakic could be back in the lineup after helping Croatia secure a place in the World Cup.

HSV

Hamburg ended their losing streak with a dramatic equalizer against Borussia Dortmund before the international break. Ransford Königsdörffer’s first Bundesliga goal arrived in the 97th minute of a hard-fought encounter.

With goalless draws at Gladbach and Union Berlin, only two of their nine points came away from home, though. Merlin Polzin’s side only found the net twice in their first five away fixtures in their return to Germany’s top-flight football.

Hamburg also lost in four of their last five visits to Augsburg. Ja-cheol Koo, who also played for Mainz and Wolfsburg, scored the only goal of the game for Augsburg the last time the two teams met in 2018.

Team News

Libyan international Daniel Elfadli returns to partial training, but he’ll be unavailable for Saturday’s game. The visitors will also be without their captain as Yussuf Poulsen remains on the sidelines due to a muscle injury. The summer signings from Arsenal – Albert Sambi Lokonga and Fábio Vieira – will compete for a place in HSV’s midfield.

Predicted Lineups

Augsburg: Dahmen ©; Banks, Matsima, Schlotterbeck; Kade, Massengo, Jakic, Giannoulis; Rieder, Claude-Maurice; Kömür

HSV: Heuer Fernandes; Capaldo, Vuskovic, Torunarigha; Gocholeishvili, Fabio Vieira, Remberg, Muheim ©; Philippe, Königsdörffer, Dompé