Fortuna Düsseldorf host bottom of the table SC Paderborn 07 in a relegation clash tomorrow in the first round of Bundesliga fixtures since the COVID-19 crisis suspended the league.
The Bundesliga has not been played since the weekend commencing the 6th March, and it is the first major league in Europe to resume playing its football again.
At the moment, Fortuna are placed in the relegation playoffs in 16th position, four points ahead of the automatic relegation zone, and four points adrift from moving out of the relegation play-off places.
Before the league got suspended, they were in decent form as they were unbeaten in three games having drew two and won one which came in a 2-0 victory away to SC Freiburg.
However, this has been their only win in the last eight games and they have only picked up five victories in the 25 games that they have played all season
In their last game, Düsseldorf earned a point away to 1. FSV Mainz 05 as forward Kenan Karaman equalised with five minutes remaining to cancel out Levin Öztunali's 61st-minute opener for the home side.
On the other hand, Paderborn are stuck at the foot of the table after only being able to pick up 16 points in 25 games, having only won four and losing 17 which is the most in the league.
With only nine games remaining until the end of the season, they will need to pick up some good results quickly as they are six points away from moving out of the automatic relegation zone and 10 points away from dropping out of the relegation playoffs.
However, the team currently managed by Steffen Baumgart are in a poor reign of form as they have lost the last four games in a row, and they have suffered five defeats in their previous six games with their only win in that period coming against Freiburg in a 2-0 win on the road on the 25th January.
Team News
For the hosts, no 1 goalkeeper Zack Steffen is unavailable and is expected to miss the remainder of the season, while David Kownacki and on loan Schalke forward Bernard Tekpety will also not feature on Saturday due to injury problems.
Furthermore, captain Oliver Fink is a doubt for Fortuna as he left the team quarters for personal reasons, meaning that he may not play against Paderborn either.
Whereas for the away side, their top scorer Streli Mamba will not be able to play as he is out for the rest of the season with a knee injury, and Luca Kilian is also unavailable due to a thigh problem.
Good news for the visitors though is that winger Christopher Antwi-Adjei appears to be available after recovering from a thigh injury of his own.
Last meeting
In the reverse fixture played at the Benteler-Arena, Paderborn came out on top as they won 2-0 thanks to strikes by Abdelhamid Sabiri and Sebastian Schonlau.
Therefore they will be hoping for a similar result as they look to ensure survival in the Bundesliga, something that at the moment that looks unlikely.
Although Fortuna will be searching for revenge and the chance to potentially narrow the gap to moving out of the relegation playoffs to only one point, which can only happen if Mainz lose away to 1. FC Köln on Sunday.