Bottom-placed Augsburg face a mountain to climb after losing their last four league games and ending the barren run against improving Borussia M’gladbach could prove to be a difficult task. Die Fohlen have won their last two away games in Bundesliga and will fancy their chances against arguably the weakest side in the league.

Augsburg destined for the drop

Many people were shocked to see Augsburg survive their first season upon gaining promotion to the top flight, but it appears the club won’t be able to escape the second-season syndrome. Despite signing quite a few new players in the summer, Fuggerstadter experienced too many problems in the opening exchanges, picking up just 6 points from 12 league games. Markus Weinzierl’s side are not only under huge pressure being six points adrift of safety, but are also completely out of confidence having lost their last four league games. Given that four defeats in six home matches would suggest that their SGL Arena is anything but a fortress, Augsburg clearly don’t have much to hope for before the clash with very good Borussia M’gladbach. Numerous selection problems only add insult to injury.

Starting defender Sebastian Langkamp is doubtful with a stomach virus, but first team regulars Jan Moravek, Simon Jentzsch, Paul Verhaegh and Tobias Werner are definitely out.

Borussia on the rise

Following some amazing showings that saw the team achieve a fourth-place finish in Bundesliga, Borussia entered the new season amidst high expectations from their fans. While staying without Marco Reus, Roman Neustadter and Dante, die Fohlen did well to sign Patrick Mlapa, Alvaro Dominguez, Granit Xhaka and Luuk de Jong, but they, nonetheless, struggled to cope with the busy schedule in the opening exchanges. As the season progressed, Lucien Favre’s side kept improving and they appear to be in decent form at the moment. While still struggling to rediscover their home form, die Fohlen have been pretty impressive on the travels, beating Hannover and Greuther Furth in Bundesliga and sharing spoils with Marseille at Velodrome. Taking their excellent showings on the road into account, Borussia can be trusted to see off out-of-sorts Augsburg as well.

Filip Daems and Luuk de Jong remain sidelined, but Lucien Favre has no fresh injury worries.

Verdict

Augsburg are proving week in week out they don’t have enough quality to play at this level and everything suggests they will suffer the fifth defeat on the bounce. Borussia M’gladbach have been pretty solid on the travels of late, so away win certainly looks a very good option here.

Top pick: Borussia Draw no bet   2.20 (6/5) @ SkyBet

Alternative pick 1: Away win   3.10 (21/10) @ Coral

Alternative pick 2: Over 2.5 goals   2.10 (11/10) @ bet365