Borussia Mönchengladbach vs RB Leipzig Preview: Die Roten Bullen look to put woes behind them

Ralph Hasenhüttl’s RB Leipzig will look to put their recent woes behind them when they will travel to Dieter Hecking’s resurgent and ever-improving Borussia Mönchengladbach on Sunday afternoon at Borussia-Park.

While Gladbach have become a side that is tough to beat in the recent games, their last outing saw Italian outfit Fiorentina hand the Foals a bitter 1-0 defeat in the Europa League Round of 32 clash at Borussia Park on Thursday. A Federico Bernardeschi strike at the end of the first-half was enough to act as the sole-difference maker in a game that promised more than it provided.

Leipzig haven’t been on the best of the runs of late, as their last league games yielded two disappointing defeats. Last week’s shocking 3-0 loss to Hamburg came days after Borussia Dortmund had managed to inflict a 1-0 defeat at Signal Iduna Park. Goals from Kyriakos Papadopoulos, Aaron Hunt and winter signing Wallace had condemned Leipzig to only their third defeat of the league season. Nicolai Müller’s performance at the Red Bull Arena had seen the German grab three assists and will probably go down as his best showing of the ongoing campaign.

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Gladbach look to keep the run going

Although, the defeat during their European commitments was a disappointment, Hecking’s men have found some form in the league of late. Their last league defeat came in late December, when Valerien Ismael’s Wolfsburg had managed to go home with an impressive 2-1. Their last four league games have yielded as many as ten points and the comeback 3-2 triumph over Bayer Leverkusen was a highlight of the ongoing run, which has propelled the club to tenth in the table.

It’s the goalscoring department where Gladbach have fallen off the charts, when compared to last season as the Foals are currently as low as 13th in terms of most goals scored. The highest goal-getter Lars Stindl, has scored just six goals in the league, just one more than Raffael, who is their second highest goalscorer with just five. In all though, Gladbach have racked up a tally of 22 goals, which is less than Werder Bremen, Mainz and high-flying Freiburg.

In terms of letting goals in, Gladbach are tenth in the table, having conceded 27 times. Constant fiddling with the formation and transitions to three-at-the-back and flat back fours under Andre Schubert had harmed the men from Borussia Park and a shaky defense was one of the reasons for Schubert’s axing.

Leipzig look to get back on track

While, few would had ever expected Leipzig to do as well as they are, their consecutive losses to Dortmund and Gisdol’s Hamburg were a shock to many. The loss didn’t come at the cost of them being displaced from the second spot though, as the likes of Eintracht Frankfurt, Hoffenheim and Dortmund sustained losses of their own. Bayern Munich were the only top four side to have won their game last week, allowing them to consolidate their seven point lead at the top of the league.

Their ability to play the same line-up in almost every single game has brought about a certainty to the side, but it can well cost them in the long and hard season. That though, has helped Die Roten Bullen in maintaining the fourth-best defensive record in the league, behind only Bayern Munich, Eintracht Frankfurt and Koln at 20 goals.

And when it comes to getting the goals, the men from Eastern Germany are third in the league and have managed to score as many as 36 goals this season, less than only the Bavarians and Thomas Tuchel’s Dortmund. Young Timo Werner, who was acquired from Stuttgart this past summer, happens to be the highest scoring German in the league, but is fourth in the goalscoring charts behind the likes of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Anthony Modeste and Robert Lewandowski. Swedish star Emil Forsberg is Leipzig’s second best goal-getter at five goals, but the former Malmo midfielder has racked up as many as eight assists too.

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Injuries and suspensions could trouble the Foals

Gladbach are likely to remain without Raffael for the game as the forward is still suffering from niggles in his thigh. Apart from him, Marvin Schulz and Ibrahima Traore are still nursing the long-term injuries that they sustained at the fag end of last year. Tobias Strobl will serve the yellow card suspension and will back only in Gladbach’s next game.

For Leipzig, concerns are at a minimum. Lukas Klostermann is likely to take around a week more to recover from his cruciate ligament injury, while forward Yussuf Poulsen will take a month more to be back from his muscle-bundle injury. Star defender Willie Orban though, is suspended and won’t feature at the Borussia Park on Sunday.