St. Pauli vs Holstein Kiel Preview: Team News & Prediction

Click here for today’s sports betting tips from our expert analysts!

The two newly promoted sides have both found the transition to the Bundesliga difficult and each currently sit inside the bottom three, adding an extra layer of importance to this game.

Kick-off date/time: Friday 29th November 2024: UK – 7:30pm / US ET – 2:30pm / US PT – 11:30am

How to watch on TV: UK – Sky Sports / US – Some matches will be televised on ESPN channels so it is worth checking their schedules

How to watch online: UK – Sky Go / US – ESPN+

St. Pauli Preview: Consecutive defeats stunt progress

Whilst St. Pauli can take heart from the past month or so with some good performances, they remain entrenched in a relegation battle. Losses in each of their last two games haven’t helped matters, with a fighting but futile 0-1 defeat at the hands of Bayern Munich followed up by a 2-0 loss away at Borussia Monchengladbach.

However, they got the better of Hoffenheim early this month and took a point against Wolfsburg, so St. Pauli can certainly compete. With this being a rare occasion in which they face a side below them in the table, it’s crucial that the hosts can cash in.

Holstein Kiel Preview: Just one win from 11 so far back in top flight

Holstein Kiel remain in deep trouble as they continue to fail keeping the ball out of their own net. Five losses from their last six in all competitions have seen them ship 12 goals, with the opposition scoring at least twice across all five of those defeats.

Although Holstein Kiel’s only victory in the Bundesliga this season came at home, they have picked up draws on the road vs Bochum and most notably Bundesliga champions Bayer Leverkusen, which saw them come from two goals down to steal a point.

St. Pauli Team News: Metcalfe headlines lengthy injury list

Midfielder Connor Metcalfe is one of several players missing for the hosts, including attacker Elias Saad and loanee Robert Wagner, those two out with ankle and thigh injuries respectively. Scott Banks is also not expected to be fit.

Predicted XI (3-4-3): Vasilj; Wahl, Smith, Nemeth; Saliakas, Irvine, Boukhalfa, Treu; Afolayan, Eggestein, Guilavogui

Unavailable: Ahlers (Injured), Banks (Injured), Burchert (Injured), Metcalfe (Injured), Saad (Injured), Seibt (Injured), Voll (Injured), Wagner (Injured), Zoller (Injured)

Questionable: Dzwigala (Injured), Mets (Injured)

Holstein Kiel Team News: Porath and Knudsen contenders to come in

Once again, centre-back Colin Kleine-Bekel misses out through his knee injury, whilst he could be joined on the sidelines by fellow defender Carl Johansson, who is also suffering from a knee problem.

Predicted XI (3-5-2): Weiner; Ivezic, Erras, Geschwill; Becker, Holtby, Knudsen, Remberg, Porath; Harres, Skrzybski

Unavailable: Kleine-Bekel (Injured)

Questionable: Johansson (Injured)

St. Pauli vs Holstein Kiel Prediction

The pressure on both these two clubs is extremely high with defeat for either a huge blow in regards to their survival hopes, even this early on in the campaign. It’s hard to ignore the fact that Holstein Kiel have conceded double the number of goals St. Pauli have and the hosts will know if they defend well, then their chances of victory rise significantly as scoring at least once would be expected against such a fragile Holstein backline. With home advantage also in their favour, St. Pauli may just do enough to edge this one.

St. Pauli vs Holstein Kiel Tip: St. Pauli to win