Koln vs Hertha preview

February 25, 2016
By: Nemanja Lazarevic

hannover kolnFC Koln will be looking to make amends for the narrow loss to Borussia M’gladbach when they host out-of-sorts Hertha on Friday evening.

The Olympiastadion outfit have yet to record a league win in 2016 and it is not difficult to guess what will be on the players’ minds at RheinEnergieStadion.

FC Koln have been spending their time in mid table of the Bundesliga standings, which is not such a bad thing with the team having managed to avoid the relegation tussle altogether.

Even though sides occupying European positions are not too far away, the reality is that Peter Stoger’s charges do not have enough quality to mount a serious top 6 challenge.

After losing to Stuttgart in the opening fixture of 2016, Koln held Wolfsburg and Hamburg to 1-1 draws on the road, before recording a 3-1 triumph over Eintracht Frankfurt.

The promising run came to an end last weekend, as they were beaten by Borussia M’gladbach, but the game against Hertha will feel as a winnable match.

Important attacker Simon Zoller continues to miss out, but there are no other selection worries for coach Peter Stoger ahead of the Hertha clash.

Probable starting line-up (3-4-2-1): Morn – Maroh, Mavraj, Heintz – Risse, Lehmann, Hector, Mladenovic – Bittencourt, Gerhard – Modeste.

Hertha were the biggest surprise package of the first part of the season as the team climbed to third against all odds, but the winter break clearly had a very negative effect on Pal Dardai’s men.

While defeating minnows Heidenheim in the DFB Pokal, Hertha were unable to win any of their five Bundesliga fixtures in the new year, albeit losing just one of those matches.

The Olympiastadion outfit, nonetheless, remained in top 3, but they will soon drop out of European positions unless they can arrest the poor run.

Hertha haven’t been too impressive on the road this season, winning 4 of 11 away games, but the same goes for Koln’s home form.

The visitors have serious selection problems at the moment, with Vladimir Darida suspended and Sebastian Langkamp, Johannes van den Bergh, Sami Allagui and Julian Schieber all sidelined through injury.

Probable starting line-up (4-2-3-1): Jarstein – Weiser, Stark, Brooks, Plattenhardt – Lustenberger, Skjelbred – Haraguchi, Baumjohann, Kalou – Ibisevic.

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