Augsburg vs RB Leipzig

RB Leipzig’s faltering pursuit of another top-four Bundesliga finish takes them to the WWK Arena to meet bottom-half Augsburg.

Augsburg’s hopes of bettering last season’s 15th-place finish are on track, but only barely after a dismal run of three defeats from their last five Bundesliga matches (W1, D1) plunged them into the bottom half of the standings. Still seven points clear of the dreaded relegation playoff spot, Jess Thorup’s men return to the WWK Arena after a 1-1 draw at Bochum, looking to improve upon their indifferent home league record in 2023/24 (W3, D4, L3). However, that’s a tall order, as they’ve lost both home matches in 2024 via a single-goal margin, with both fixtures featuring a stoppage-time goal. Leipzig’s upcoming visit spells trouble for Augsburg, at least based on their five-match winless league H2H run on home turf (D3, L2) and a thumping 3-0 defeat in the reverse fixture.

On the other hand, Leipzig’s humiliating three-game losing Bundesliga start to the new calendar year finally ended last week, courtesy of a comfortable 2-0 home triumph against 10-man Union Berlin. Commencing this round a point adrift of fourth-placed Borussia Dortmund, Marco Rose’s men take this trip amidst a two-match winless away league streak (D1, L1), hellbent on bouncing back from a 5-2 demolition at the hands of Stuttgart on their last top-flight travel. Worryingly for the ‘Die Roten Bullen’ faithful, Leipzig’s defensive woes have seen them concede an average of 2.4 goals per game across their five most recent Bundesliga road trips (W1, D1, L3). Flying out of the traps should help, considering they’ve yet to lose an away league match when scoring first this season (W4, D1).