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

The visitors, meanwhile, may require a positive result in order to stay in the top half of the table.

Match preview

Despite suffering only their second league defeat of the season away to VfL Bochum last weekend, Union Berlin still head into the weekend's action top of the Bundesliga table.

However, should Bayern Munich beat Mainz 05 as expected on Saturday, that will change ahead of their match against Gladbach at Stadion An der Alten Forsterei on Saturday.

With Bochum bottom of the table having only won one of their 10 matches prior to beating Union Berlin last weekend, their 2-1 win against Urs Fischer's side represented something of a shock result as Philipp Hofmann's and Gerrit Holtmann's strikes either side of half-time left Milos Pantovic's late effort amounting to little more than a consolation goal.

In the Europa League, though, Die Eisernen gained a crucial 1-0 victory against Braga to move two points above their Portuguese opponents in Group D, although they may still require a win against Union Saint-Gilloise on the final matchday next week in order to progress into the knockout stages.

In the meantime, with only four league games between this weekend's action and next month's World Cup, Fischer will hope to see his players continue their momentum in the league and stay as high as they can in the table.

Gladbach, meanwhile, suffered a disappointing 3-1 defeat at home to Eintracht Frankfurt last weekend, with the visitors racing into a three-goal lead before half-time.

Marcus Thuram continued his sensational individual campaign to pull one back late on but Daniel Farke struggled to generate chances throughout the encounter, only managing seven shots despite dominating possession with 61% of the ball.

While Die Fohlen are only four points behind the Champions League qualification positions heading into the weekend's action, there is little doubt that their performance levels and results have dropped off since the international break, with only one win from five games to show for it.

Indeed, their shock 2-1 defeat away to Darmstadt in the second round of the DFB-Pokal was a particularly cruel blow given their lack of involvement in Europe, which Farke will be hoping his players can use to their advantage in Berlin on Sunday against potentially tired opponents.

Union Berlin Bundesliga form:

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Union Berlin form (all competitions):

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Borussia Monchengladbach Bundesliga form:

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Borussia Monchengladbach form (all competitions):

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Team News

Union Berlin are likely to remain without Sven Michel and Kevin Mohwald, but otherwise Fischer should have a fully fit squad to select from.

Paul Jaeckel and Andras Schafer could return to the starting XI having been on the bench for the win against Braga on Thursday, with Danilho Doekhi and Morten Thorsby potentially making way as their manager looks to freshen things up.

Gladbach's injury list remains lengthy, meanwhile, with Yann Sommer, Ko Itakura, Mamadou Doucoure, Stefan Lainer, Florian Neuhaus, Hannes Wolf, Torben Musel and Jonas Hofmann all unlikely to be available for the trip to Berlin.

Kouadio Kone is suspended, too, after picking up his fifth booking of the season during last weekend's defeat to Frankfurt, meaning Christoph Kramer will almost certainly drop deeper alongside Julian Weigl in midfield, with Patrick Herrmann and Nathan Ngoumou fighting for a spot in attack.

Union Berlin possible starting lineup:

Ronnow; Jaeckel, Knoche, Leite; Trimmel, Schafer, Khedira, Haberer, Ryerson; Becker, Siebatcheu

Borussia Monchengladbach possible starting lineup:

Sippel; Scally, Friedrich, Elvedi, Bensebaini; Weigl, Kramer; Ngoumou, Stindl, Plea; Thuram

We say: Union Berlin 1-0 Borussia Monchengladbach

Gladbach's chances of gaining a positive result in Berlin are undoubtedly boosted by their opponents' involvement in Europe on Thursday, but we can envisage yet another narrow win for the hosts.

Farke's side struggled to create chances against Frankfurt last time out despite dominating possession, and it would be fair to assert that Union Berlin are a much tougher defensive unit to overcome.

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