With just four points separating third from tenth in the Bundesliga table ahead of Matchday 19, both Borussia Mönchengladbach and Augsburg are wary of slipping up as the jostling for European places intensifies on Saturday afternoon (15:30 CET/14:30 GMT).
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Gladbach suffered a last-minute 2-1 defeat to local Rhineland rivals Cologne in their first game of 2018, leaving them just a point ahead of this season's surprise package Augsburg in the standings. Dieter Hecking's men will be eager to get the pain of that loss out of their system here, although they may be forced to do so without central midfielder Christoph Kramer, who missed much of training this week due to illness. Fabian Johnson, Ibrahima Traore and Raul Bobadilla are again among the absentees for the hosts.
Augsburg started 2018 in the same impressive fashion they showed for much of 2017, overcoming a dogged Hamburg side to win 1-0. Coach Manuel Baum looks set to recall striker Alfred Finnbogason here after the Iceland international missed out last week with a cold, while the Bundesliga's assist king Philipp Max will be keen to add to his tally of nine against the only team in the top half of the table with a negative goal difference.
Watch: Check out all of Max's assists this season in the video below!
Probable line-ups
Gladbach: Sommer – Elvedi, Ginter, Vestergaard, Wendt – Zakaria, Kramer – Herrmann, Hazard - Raffael, Stindl (c)
Absentees: Doucoure (thigh), Strobl (knee ligaments), Traore (thigh), Benes (broken foot), Johnson (back), Bobadilla (pelvis)
Coach: Dieter Hecking
Augsburg: Hitz - Opare, Gouweleeuw, Hinteregger, Max - Khedira, Baier (c), Koo - Gregoritsch, Caiuby - Finnbogason
Absentees: Danso (ankle), Ji (knee), Leitner (foot)
Coach: Manuel Baum
Match stats
Borussia have won just two of their last 13 meetings with Augsburg and only triumphed once in the last nine. That said, Gladbach have scored a total of eight goals on their last four visits to the WWK Arena.Lars Stindl has not lost any of his 12 meetings with Die Fuggerstädter.Bobadilla moved from Augsburg to Borussia Park last summer after 94 games and 21 goals over four seasons in Bavaria. The Paraguayan forward is level with Finnbogason in second place among Augsburg's all-time Bundesliga top scorers.Iceland international Finnbogason has scored in all three games he has played against Gladbach, including his first Bundesliga goal on 28 February 2016.When these sides met on Matchday 2, Finnbogason scored after 34 seconds - the fastest goal in the club's Bundesliga history.Baum's first game as a Bundesliga coach came against Gladbach on 17 December 2016; Augsburg came out 1-0 winners.
Source: bundesliga.com