Borussia Mönchengladbach suffered an embarrassing 3-1 loss in their previous outing away to Union Berlin, who had not won any of their 16 prior competitive matches. “We didn’t show the desired performance either with or without the ball,” explained head coach Gerardo Seoane after defeat saw his team remain in tenth place (W4, D4, L6) and with three points less than they had last season at this stage.
Seoane will be hopeful of getting back on track in this round as they are on a five game winning streak across all competitions at Borussia-Park, their longest such run in four years. The visit of Werder Bremen should only add to that feeling, a side Gladbach haven’t lost at home to in eight years, albeit in a cup game, whilst they have taken points in each of the last 11 Bundesliga home H2Hs (W7, D4). Indeed, they haven’t actually defeated any other opposition at home more often than Bremen (31), so fans will be expectant as they head to the stadium on Friday.
Bremen, who currently have seven points fewer than they did at this stage last season, defeated Augsburg 2-0 last weekend to end a four-game period without victory. Manager Ole Werner was particularly happy with their defending as they registered their third clean sheet of the Bundesliga season (albeit all at home). They’re now sitting in 12th place (W4, D2, L8), and most importantly, have the chance to leapfrog their opponents with a win.
The visitors do have the ignominy of being the joint-worst away team in the league (D1, L5) to overcome, and failure to win any Bundesliga away game in nine attempts (D1, L8), spanning back to last season, accounts for their worst league run on the road in six years. Whilst two of those five away defeats came against teams that occupy European places in the standings, Bremen have been humbled 4-2 by the two newly promoted clubs this campaign, suggesting they are likely to add to Gladbach’s rather favourable H2H record here.
Players to watch: Gladbach’s Alassane Pléa scored his team’s only goal in their last defeat, meaning he has either scored or set up a goal in his last six Bundesliga games (G5, A1). After 259 goalless minutes in the Bundesliga, Niklas Stark put an end to Bremen’s difficult spell, scoring his first goal of the season.
Hot stat: Bremen lost seven of their ten games as outsiders this Bundesliga season (W1, D2).
