Preview: Augsburg vs. Borussia Monchengladbach - prediction, team news, lineups

Two early-season strugglers meet in the Bundesliga on Saturday, when Augsburg host Borussia Monchengladbach at the WWK Arena.

The hosts are the lowest scorers in the league heading into this match, whilst the European-hopeful visitors have managed just a single win from the opening four rounds of the new season.

Match preview

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Saturday's hosts Augsburg arrive back home at the WWK Arena still looking for their first win of the new season in the German top flight.

In fact, the two draws and two defeats from the opening four games is their worst start to a Bundesliga season in six years.

To make matters worse for the home side at the weekend, those two points earned so far have both arrived in goalless draws away from home, including last weekend's visit to Union Berlin.

After importantly making their stadium a bit of a fortress in recent years where they could rely on picking up results to keep them in the division, Fuggerstadter have been hammered on both occasions in front of their own fans so far - a 4-0 defeat against Hoffenheim on the opening weekend, followed by a 4-1 loss to Bayer Leverkusen prior to the international break.

Head coach Markus Weinzierl will now be looking to Saturday's match as an opportunity to kickstart his side's season with a win.

However, this could prove difficult when Augsburg possess the worst number of goals scored in the entire division after the opening four matches - scoring just the once.

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As for the visitors, despite managing a win this season unlike their hosts, the start to the campaign has been a disappointing one for Adi Hutter's men.

After arriving from Eintracht Frankfurt in the summer, Hutter has struggled to match the successes of predecessor Marco Rose so far.

A positive opening-day draw with reigning champions Bayern Munich saw the Foals more than match their opponent's quality but fail to maintain those standards in the two matches that followed.

A 4-0 hammering away to fellow European-hopefuls Bayer Leverkusen was the low point for Hutter and his side, with a defeat at Union Berlin arriving a week later too.

However, last weekend saw Gladbach register their first win of the new season. Beating Arminia Bielefeld at home was expected of Die Fohlen, and although it was a far-from-perfect performance, earning that first victory was what mattered most.

Despite the struggles of Saturday's hosts too, the visitors will need to raise their standards again in order to gain a result, after winning on only one of their last eight visits to this particular destination.

Team News

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Defender Felix Uduokhai continues to struggle with a slight knock for Augsburg ahead of Saturday's match, with him remaining a doubt as a result.

Tobias Strobl and Alfred Finnbogason also remain doubtful for coach Weinzierl, as they are struggling with ankle and achilles injuries respectively.

Jan Moravek is the only definite absentee for the hosts, after being substituted with a groin injury in the draw at Frankfurt a few weeks ago.

Meanwhile, the visitors would have liked to have remain unchanged after recording their first league victory of the season last weekend.

However, Jonas Hofmann has been ruled out after starting that match so Breel Embolo may be required to make his first start of the season as part of the three-man forward line.

Embolo only returned from injury for his first appearance of the season altogether in that match against Bielefeld - a brief cameo from the substitutes bench.

Hofmann is joined on the sidelines by the important duo of Marcus Thuram and Stefan Lainer, along with Mamadou Doucoure as well.

Lainer's absence means youngster Joe Scally will continue to deputise at right-wing-back, whilst Luca Netz should keep his place on the opposite side due to doubts over Ramy Bensebaini's availability.

Augsburg possible starting lineup:
Gikiewicz; Gumny, Oxford, Gouweleeuw; Framberger, Hahn, Dorsch, Caligiuri, Iago; Niederlechner, Vargas

Borussia Monchengladbach possible starting lineup:
Sommer; Beyer, Ginter, Elvedi; Scally, Neuhaus, Zakaria, Netz; Stindl, Plea, Embolo

We say: Augsburg 1-1 Borussia Monchengladbach

The visitors would usually be expected to win a tie such as this one, particularly with the poor start to the season for their hosts. However, Gladbach's poor recent record away to Augsburg, coupled by their stuttering start to the season themselves means we are predicting a draw at the WWK Arena.