RB Leipzig vs Hamburg

Red Bull Arena forms the backdrop as RB Leipzig and Hamburger SV go head-to-head in a tasty-looking DFB-Pokal showdown.

Coming into proceedings, Leipzig eked out a ‘goal-friendly’ 3-2 home triumph over Hertha BSC, extending their unbeaten streak across all competitions to five games (W4, D1). Except for a 1-1 draw at Mainz in early October, Marco Rose’s side netted 2+ goals in the four remaining outings during that five-match run. That indicates HSV’s backline, which conceded at least twice in two of their last three competitive H2Hs against Leipzig, could be in for another troublesome fixture. Adding to this sentiment, ‘Die Roten Bullen’ have won their last four home matches in all competitions, bagging at least three goals on each occasion.

In the meantime, visiting Hamburg succumbed to a dreadful 3-0 defeat away to Bundesliga 2. rivals St. Pauli at the weekend, as their six-match unbeaten domestic run (W5, D1) ran out of the window. Notably, though, before losing at St. Pauli, HSV had won their opening six domestic fixtures on the road this season, including a 3-1 extra-time victory at lower-league SpVgg Bayreuth in the previous DFB-Pokal round. But manage Tim Walter will expect more urgency from his men in the defensive third after seeing them go three consecutive away games without a clean sheet. The one thing that could inspire HSV’s bid to stage an upset at the Red Bull Arena is that they’ve not lost any of their two previous competitive visits to this venue (W1, D1).