Union Berlin vs Bochum Preview: Team News & Prediction
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Perennial over achievers Union Berlin have slipped down into the bottom-half of late. Bottom-of-the-table and winless Bochum now make the trip to the capital city this weekend.
Kick-off date/time: Saturday 14th December, 2024: UK – 2:30pm / US ET – 9:30am / US PT – 6:30am
How to watch on TV: UK – Not televised / US – Some matches will be televised on ESPN channels so it is worth checking their schedules
How to watch online: UK – Cannot be streamed / US – ESPN+
Union Berlin Preview: Needing a spark
Former Denmark international Bo Svensson was appointed over the summer and his stint in charge of Union Berlin, their sixth ever season in the top-flight, started well but it could well be that he is now coming under pressure as they drift into the bottom-half ahead of the weekend.
The capital city club come into this one on the back of a 3-2 defeat to Stuttgart last weekend in a game in which they did lead 2-0. That means they are winless in their last seven matches across all competitions since defeating a poor Holstein Kiel side in mid-October.
Bochum Preview: Winless and struggling
Bochum are the only team to remain winless after 13 matches of the 2024/25 Bundesliga season and they do appear destined for a return to the second-tier of German football this time around after winning the end of season promotion/relegation playoff last season.
The visitors have scored the fewest goals in the league, ten, and conceded the most, 34, as they head towards the winter break. Their most recent outing saw them edged past by Werder Bremen by a goal to nil last weekend due to a second-half strike from Jens Stage.
Union Berlin Team News: Kevin’s injuries
Union Berlin are dealing with several injury issues and a couple of Kevin’s have picked up injuries in the last couple of weeks with both Kevin Vogt and Kevin Volland now out. They join Andrej Ilic and Ivan Pratjin on the sidelines.
Predicted XI (3-4-2-1): Ronnow; Doehki, Querfeld, Leite; Skov, Schafer, Khedira, Rothe; Jeong, Hollerbach; Skarke
Unavailable: Vogt (Injured), Ilic (Injured), Pratjin (Injured), Volland (Injured)
Questionable:
Bochum Team News: A few injuries
Bochum are dealing with a few injury issues ahead of this weekend’s trip to Berlin. Netherlands international attacker Myron Boadu is sidelined alongside both Aliou Balde and Jakov Medic with the latter suffering an eye injury earlier this month.
Predicted XI (3-4-3): Drewes; Oermann, Ordets, Bernardo; Passlack, Sissoko, Bero, Wittek; Miyoshi, Hofmann, Holtmann
Unavailable: Medic (Injured), Boadu (Injured), Balde (Injured)
Questionable:
Union Berlin vs Bochum Prediction
Of that aforementioned seven-match winless streak for Union, one of those games came in the DFB-Pokal and other six games all coming against teams that are currently residing in the top eight of the Bundesliga. They will therefore believe they will return to winning ways whenever they face a weaker side and that is the case this weekend as they face a Bochum side that can, perhaps fairly, already be described as relegation-bound.
Union Berlin vs Bochum Tip: Union Berlin to win
