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Along with the only side below them in the table, Greuther Fürth, Bielefeld are yet to record a victory in their own stadium in the 2021/22 campaign. Freiburg, Eintracht Frankfurt, Hoffenheim and — most recently — Wolfsburg have all been held to draws at the Schüco-Arena this season, and with Cologne yet to win away from home this season, Frank Kramer's men have cause for optimism. They produced a valiant display in defeat to Bayern Munich last time out, and triumphed 1-0 in their home game with the Billy Goats last season. Not one to rotate and with no new injury concerns bar full-back Lennart Czyborra following an operation to remove his appendix, Kramer is set to stick with the core of the side that performed so admirably in Munich.
Cologne head into the match buoyed by the impressive 4-1 derby dismissal of Borussia Mönchengladbach — their first league win since Matchday 7 — that means they are now unbeaten in their last three Bundesliga outings. Modeste will be looking to add to his tally of eight league goals after a two-match mini drought, but they do have a number of injury concerns. Captain Jonas Hector came off at half-time in the derby due to a thigh problem, and coach Steffen Baumgart has confirmed he will not travel. First-choice goalkeeper Timo Horn is not expected to return until 2022 because of a knee problem, so back-up Marvin Schwäbe - who moved to Cologne from Danish side Brondby this summer - will continue to deputise having made his debut in the derby and saving four out of five shots.
Match stats
Fabian Klos scored five times in 34 Bundesliga appearances last season. Like Masaya Okugawa, he's already hit three after 13 rounds of fixtures.
Nevertheless, Bielefeld are the only team in this season's Bundesliga still to reach double figures for goals scored.
That might explain why Arminia have won only two of 15 competitive matches in 2021/22 (D6, L7).
Cologne have lost just one of six Bundesliga games so far this season involving a Modeste goal (the Matchday 2 defeat at Bayern Munich), whilst winning three of four matches without a goal from their top scorer.
Cologne are unbeaten at home so far this Bundesliga season (W4, D3), but winless away (D3, L3).
The Billy Goats have won their last five home matches in a row with Arminia (three in the Bundesliga, two in Bundesliga 2).
Probable line-ups
Bielefeld: Ortega - Brunner, Pieper, Nilsson, Andrade - Prietl (c), Fernandes - Wimmer, Schöpf, Okugawa - Klos
Out: Czyborra (appendicitis), Vasiliadis (not included)
Doubtful:
Coach: Frank Kramer
Cologne: Schwäbe - Ehizibue, Kilian, Czichos (c), Schmitz - Skhiri, Özcan - Ljubicic, Duda, Kainz - Modeste
Out: Hauptmann (illness), Hector (thigh), T. Horn (knee), Köbbing (knee), Ostrak (muscular), Uth (illness)
Doubtful: Schaub (illness)
Coach: Steffen Baumgart