Mainz vs Greuther Fürth

Mewa Arena is the venue as Mainz and Greuther Fürth go head-to-head in a potentially low-scoring Bundesliga affair. Both previous competitive H2Hs here have seen the visitors claim a narrow 1-0 win.

Mainz failed to build upon a surprising 1-0 home triumph over RB Leipzig on the opening weekend, going down 2-0 away to newly-promoted Bochum last time out. That defeat allies well with Mainz’s tendency to crumble when considered pre-match favorites as ‘Die Nullfünfer’ managed a disappointing second-worst 25% win ratio in such Bundesliga fixtures last season. What’s more, Mainz picked up just a single point from four top-flight encounters against newcomers in 2020/21 (D1, L3). By extension, Bo Svensson’s men are winless across their last seven Bundesliga matches against newly-promoted teams (D3, L4). They have also lost all of their previous five home meetings with Greuther Fürth in all competitions, notching under 1.5 goals on each occasion. By contrast, the hosts have suffered just one reverse in their last six home Bundesliga outings (W2, D3).

Meanwhile, Greuther Fürth recovered from a humiliating 5-1 thumping at the hands of Stuttgart back on Matchday 1, eking out a 1-1 home draw against fellow relegation rivals Arminia Bielefeld last time out. After defying underdog status throughout the entire 2020/21 Bundesliga 2 campaign, Stefan Leitl is on the lookout for his first-ever managerial win in the top-flight. Indeed, Leitl’s side avoided defeat in all six away second-tier matches they started as underdogs (W2, D4), which is the direction they want to follow here. That’s a sharp contrast to Greuther Fürth’s sluggish start to the new competitive campaign, as they’ve gone winless in their first three games in all competitions (D1, L2) for the first time since 2006/07. But back-to-back H2H victories by an aggregate score of 5-1 give the ‘Kleeblätter’ faithful plenty of reason for optimism.