Preview: FC Koln vs. Hoffenheim - prediction, team news, lineups

The visitors, meanwhile, will be hoping to use their opponents' recent European exertions to their advantage having only won one of their last five league games.

Match preview

Koln were forced to face FC Slovacko in the Czech Republic on Friday afternoon in the end after their Europa Conference League match was moved back one day due to heavy fog in Uherské Hradiště.

Steffen Baumgart's side won 1-0 courtesy of Ondrej Duda's 82nd-minute penalty to move one point behind Nice and Partizan in Group D, meaning they must beat Nice at RheinEnergieStadion next week in order to progress to the knockout stages.

With their home match against Hoffenheim set to come little more than 48 hours later on Sunday after seeing their request to postpone the match rejected, Baumgart may be concerned about fatigue setting in among his ranks.

Having been thrashed 5-0 away to Mainz 05 last week, which was the second successive away match in which the Billy Goats had conceded five goals, the 50-year-old will be asking for his players to run the proverbial - and quite literal - extra mile for him at the weekend.

Hoffenheim, on the other hand, have had more than one week's rest since losing 2-0 at home to Bayern Munich last Saturday.

Jamal Musiala and Eric Choupo-Moting gave the Bavarians a two-goal lead at half-time, with Andre Breitenreiter's side never looking likely of mounting a comeback as the opposition goalkeeper Sven Ulrich was only tested on three occasions throughout the course of the match.

Having amassed only five points from their last five league games, Die Kraichgauer have fallen to seventh in the table, although they head into the weekend's action only three points behind fourth-placed Eintracht Frankfurt.

As such, a win against a potentially tired outfit in Cologne could be a crucial one in terms of their European qualification aspirations, with Breitenreiter likely to be confident of doing so having seen his team already win twice on the road this campaign.

FC Koln Bundesliga form:

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FC Koln form (all competitions):

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Hoffenheim Bundesliga form:

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Hoffenheim form (all competitions):

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Team News

Baumgart made five changes to his starting XI against Slovacko on Friday, with the former Paderborn boss likely to mix things up on a similar level against Hoffenheim, particularly if the game does go ahead on Sunday as scheduled.

Luca Kilian is suspended after his costly dismissal against Mainz last weekend, with Nikola Soldo likely to replace him at the heart of the defence, while Steffen Tigges, Benno Schmitz and Florian Dietz could return to the side.

Koln do have a major injury crisis on their hands, with Sebastian Andersson, Julian Chabot, Tim Lemperle, Jan Thielmann, Dimitrios Limnios, Mathias Olesen and Dejan Ljubicic all unlikely to be available at the weekend.

Hoffenheim, meanwhile, will travel without Luca Philipp, Ermin Bicakcic, Benjamin Hubner, Ihlas Bebou, Munas Dabbur and Fisnik Asllani due to their own injury problems.

However, Andrej Kramaric should be ready to start having returned from a knock to feature from the bench against Bayern last time out, with the Croatian likely to replace Dabbur in attack.

FC Koln possible starting lineup:

Schwabe; Schmitz, Soldo, Hubers, Hector; Skhiri, Martel; Dietz, Duda, Kainz; Tigges

Hoffenheim possible starting lineup:

Baumann; Kabak, Vogt, Nsoki; Skov, Promel, Geiger, Angelino; Baumgartner, Rutter, Kramaric

We say: FC Koln 1-3 Hoffenheim

We can envisage Hoffenheim punishing Koln's tiredness and the amount of players that they have unavailable with an away win on Sunday.

The hosts feel like a team who could do with next month's World Cup starting even sooner than it does, with injury problems and fixture pile-up's mounting on Baumgart's shoulders.

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