Preview: SV Darmstadt 98 vs. Mainz 05 - prediction, team news, lineups

The visitors moved off the bottom of the table by claiming their first win of the season against RB Leipzig last weekend.

Match preview

Darmstadt, on the other hand, were leapfrogged by VfL Bochum in the table after suffering a 2-1 defeat at home to Thomas Letsch's side last Friday.

The two sides went into the break level following strikes from Takuma Asano and Fabian Nurnberger, but Asano restored the visitors' lead nine minutes after the break. Although Darmstadt pushed hard to get themselves back into the contest, Fabian Holland's dismissal 21 minutes before the end of normal time significantly hampered their hopes of doing so, with Bochum standing firm.

Although Torsten Lieberknecht and his players would undoubtedly have taken sitting outside of the relegation zone after 10 games of the campaign, recent signs have not been promising for them. They have conceded eight more goals than any other team in the division, although that was not helped by recently conceding eight to the reigning champions Bayern Munich.

Lieberknecht will be desperate to remain above the bottom three heading into the international break, but the only way that they can guarantee that scenario is by claiming their third victory of the season against Mainz on Saturday.

That could prove to be a much more difficult result to achieve following Mainz's surprise win against Leipzig last weekend, with Bo Svensson's side finally ending their winless start to the season at the 10th attempt.

As expected, Die Roten Bullen controlled possession with 68% of the ball, but Marco Rose's side were a little toothless in terms of only testing Mainz goalkeeper Robin Zentner on two occasions across the course of the encounter.

Mainz's defensive organisation was rewarded when Lee Jae-sung sparked jubilant scenes at MEWA Arena by breaking the deadlock in the 76th minute, before Leandro Barreiro doubled the hosts' lead four minutes later to all but confirm that their winless streak was over. With FC Koln drawing at home to Augsburg, Svensson's side also moved off the foot of the table.

Die Nullfunfer will head to newly-promoted Darmstadt knowing that a second successive victory would guarantee that they do not occupy the automatic relegation places during the upcoming international break, while Union Berlin's trip to Leverkusen on Sunday makes it likely that they would move outside of the bottom three altogether should they get their own job done.

SV Darmstadt 98 Bundesliga form:

L

W

W

L

L

L

Mainz 05 Bundesliga form:

L

L

D

L

D

W

Mainz 05 form (all competitions):

L

D

L

D

L

W

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Team News

Holland will join Matej Maglica and Klaus Gjasula in Darmstadt's growing suspended club after their dismissals against Bayern, while Braydon Manu, Fabio Torsiello and Aaron Seydel are all unlikely to feature due to injury.

Bartol Franjic could be handed an opportunity to impress in central midfield, where club captain Holland had been featuring away from his more natural position at left-back, but otherwise Lieberknecht has very few realistic options to shake things up.

Mainz, meanwhile, will travel without Jonathan Burkardt, Stefan Bell, Joshua Guilavogui, Andreas Hanche-Olsen and Nelson Weiper due to their own injury problems, while Brajan Gruda and club captain Silvan Widmer may not be risked either.

Edmilson Fernandes will likely drop back into the centre of defence to fill in for Guilavogui, allowing Danny da Costa to provide more natural width at right-back. However, having performed so well to claim their first win against Leipzig, it would be a surprise if Svensson made any other changes.

SV Darmstadt 98 possible starting lineup:

Schuhen; Zimmermann, Muller, Klarer; Bader, Kempe, Franjic, Nurnberger; Mehlem; Pfeiffer, Skarke

Mainz 05 possible starting lineup:

Zentner; Van Den Berg, Leitsch, Fernandes; Da Costa, Barreiro, Kohr, Caci; Richter, Lee; Onisiwo

We say: SV Darmstadt 98 1-2 Mainz 05

Having made great strides under Svensson's management in recent seasons, it had been somewhat surprising to see Mainz struggling at the bottom of the table as the only team in the Bundesliga without a victory. However, we expect them to kick on after finally ending that record against Leipzig last time out.

Darmstadt, on the other hand, are missing some key players through suspension and could be low on confidence after suffering three successive defeats. While they should be competitive, we can envisage a narrow away win on Saturday, which would leave the hosts in the bottom three during the international break.

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