Arminia Bielefeld vs. Borussia Mönchengladbach: probable line-ups, match stats and LIVE blog!

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Okugawa has been teasing career-best form in recent months, scoring four of his seven goals this season across Arminia's last five Bundesliga matches. Bielefeld are unbeaten in that time, drawing two and recording three 2-0 wins. Victory at Eintracht Frankfurt lifted Frank Kramer's side up to 14th, two points clear of 16th-placed Augsburg in the relegation play-off spot and three above the automatic drop zone. The North Rhine-Westphalian outfit resume their pursuit of a third straight season of Bundesliga football boosted by the arrival of teenaged midfielder Burak Ince and US international left-back George Bello. The latter trained with his new teammates for the first time on Tuesday, and could make his debut on Matchday 21. Another of Kramer's left-backs, Andres Andrade, is a doubt, however. Bielefeld will climb above Gladbach if they avoid defeat.

The visitors to the SchücoArena this weekend, Borussia find themselves on a dreadful run of form, losing six of their last eight league fixtures. Maximum points against Bundesliga leaders Bayern Munich in their first match of 2022 proved a false dawn, with subsequent 2-1 defeats to top-four contenders Bayer Leverkusen and Union Berlin piling the pressure on head coach Adi Hütter. Long-serving sporting director Max Eberl stepped down after 23 years in the role last week, with the club yet to appoint a successor. Midfielder Denis Zakaria also shipped out late in the winter transfer window, a departure that could re-open the door to regular first-team football for former Germany international Christoph Kramer. Club captain Lars Stindl misses out once again, but left-sided specialist Ramy Bensebaini is back in contention after representing Algeria at the Africa Cup of Nations.

Match stats

Alessandro Schöpf, who opened his club account last time out, is one of eight different goalscorers at Bielefeld this season, on a list headed by Okugawa.

Gonzalo Castro is another. The veteran midfielder's struck four times against Gladbach, only scoring more in meetings with Hamburg (five).

Bielefeld are, together with Union, on the longest current unbeaten runs in the Bundesliga (five). They are four games without a defeat at home (one win, three draws).

Gladbach, on the other hand, have taken just four points from the last 24 on offer.

The Foals have a good record against Bielefeld, winning nine and drawing two of the past 11 meetings between these two clubs.

Gladbach top scorer Jonas Hofmann is without a goal in his last three Bundesliga appearances, though his seven efforts is already a single-season personal best.

Probable line-ups

Bielefeld: Ortega (c) - Brunner, Pieper, Nilsson, Laursen - Schöpf, Vasiliadis - Wimmer, Okugawa, Krüger - Serra

Out: -

Doubtful: Andrade (ankle), Kunze (knock)

Coach: Frank Kramer

Gladbach: Sommer (c) - Ginter, Elvedi, Friedrich - Lainer, Kramer, Kone, Bensebaini - Neuhaus, Hofmann - Embolo

Out: Stindl (knee)

Doubtful: Sippel (ribs)

Coach: Adi Hütter