RB Leipzig vs. St. Pauli
Leipzig begin matchday 21 in fourth position despite experiencing an underwhelming run of results in the Bundesliga. Die Roten Bullen have not won a top-flight match since recording a 4-2 home victory over Werder Bremen on January 12. They followed that result with a narrow defeat to Stuttgart, before they played out three consecutive Bundesliga draws with Bochum, Bayer Leverkusen and Union Berlin.
They could at least take some encouragement from the fact that last Saturday's goalless affair against Union ended a run of six league matches without a clean sheet. After picking up a point at the Stadion An der Alten Försterei, Leipzig will now return to the Red Bull Arena, where they have won two of their last three home league matches (D1). The hosts will be desperate to score the first goal, having won all four home league games this season where they have opened the scoring.
Leipzig have already recorded a home victory over St. Pauli, recording a 4-2 win in October's DFB-Pokal tie. They are now looking to beat St. Pauli for the first time in the Bundesliga after playing out a goalless draw in September's reverse fixture.
The hosts are unable to call upon the injured quartet of Benjamin Henrichs, Xaver Schlager, Assan Ouédraogo and Yussuf Poulsen.
St. Pauli head into the weekend with a seven-point buffer to the bottom three after putting together a positive run of results in recent weeks. Alexander Blessin's side recorded a 2-0 away win over Heidenheim, before they claimed a commanding 3-0 victory in a home clash against Union Berlin. St. Pauli appeared to be on course to clinch a third consecutive win in last Saturday's meeting with Augsburg. Noahkai Banks's 17th-minute own goal gave St. Pauli the lead for the majority of the contest, only for Mert Kömür to score an 83rd-minute equaliser to deny them all three points.
Nevertheless, they will still be pleased with the fact they have avoided defeat in each of their last three matches. St. Pauli will now head on the road with hopes of recording back-to-back away league victories for the first time this season after sweeping past Union in their most recent away trip. This will be St. Pauli's first visit to the Red Bull Arena since recording a narrow 1-0 win in a 2.Bundesliga fixture in August 2015.
St. Pauli are without the services of Robert Wagner, Manolis Saliakas, Morgan Guilavogui, Sascha Burchert, Simon Zoller and Karol Mets. Meanwhile, Connor Metcalfe is closing in on a return to action, but Sunday's contest will come too soon for the Australian midfielder.
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