German Bundesliga - Union Berlin vs. Mainz - Preview & Prediction
Having dropped their past three decisions, 13th-placed Union Berlin will try to collect some long-overdue points when hosting 15th-placed Mainz, who are sitting just three points off relegation. Kick-off - at 14:30 PM ET on Wednesday, May 27.
Union Berlin Fail In Derby
Bundesliga newcomers Union Berlin were beaten for the third consecutive time after following up defeats to Freiburg (3-1) and Bayern Munich (2-0) with a 4-0 fiasco against resurging Hertha Berlin, who banked the derby win at Olympiastadion on Friday. The Iron Ones were outshot 15-7, failing to register a single shot on goal, with the Old Lady bagging all four snipes in the second half. Having picked up a W9 D3 L15 record from 27 games so far this season, Union Berlin sit 13th in the league, six points above the drop-zone, while trailing the top-six by nine points.
Swedish forward Sebastian Andersson leads Union Berlin with 11 markers, but has gone two contests without a goal after scoring three in as many previous outings. Goalie Rafal Gikiewicz, meanwhile, ranks 2nd in the Bundesliga with 99 shots stopped, having collected six clean sheets in 27 appearances so far this year. He allows a goal every 52 minutes. Union Berlin is 4th from the bottom in most goals scored (32), 14th in most shots recorded (12.2 per game), and 2nd worst in both ball possession (43.8%) and passing accuracy (70.1%).
Mainz Allow Five Versus Leipzig
A three-game unbeaten run (W1 D2) came to an end in a miserable fashion for Mainz, who were trounced with a score of 5-0 by RB Leipzig at Opel Arena on Sunday. The Zero-Fivers, who were beaten by the Red Bulls 8-0 in the reverse fixture back in November, controlled the ball just 35% of the time and were outshot 20-4, allowing every Leipzig outfield player to at least one goal-scoring chance, managing to muster just a single shot on goal themselves through Robin Quaison. Mainz are 15th in the Bundesliga standings with a W8 D3 L16 record, sitting just three points above the bottom three.
Swedish-Ghanaian striker Quaison has picked up a team-leading 12 snipes in 26 appearances this year, but has failed to find the back of the net for three consecutive games. Goalie Florian Muller, meanwhile, currently occupies the 24th place in the Bundesliga’s keeper chart, having stopped 23 shots in six outings, with 20 markers scored against him so far this year on a goal-per-every-25-minutes ratio. The Zero-Fivers are 10th in most goals netted this season (36), 10th in most shots delivered (13.1 per game), and 3rd from the bottom in both ball possession (44.5%) and passing accuracy (75.0%).
Prediction
The only previous Bundesliga meeting between the two sides finished with a 3-2 road victory for Union Berlin, who led 3-0 before a late surge helped the hosts to get back into the game. Another pretty close affair is definitely expected with the action switching to Berlin, where the Iron Ones have failed to win any of their last three domestic outings (D1 L2). The very last five away contests of the Zero-Fivers, take note, have seen at least four snipes on the scoreboard, with the same happening in three of the past four overall games of Union Berlin. So, expecting a couple of snipes from each side in a 2-2 tie, with each team’s top scorers finally breaking their goalless streaks, is definitely quite a realistic proposition.
Best bets:
Draw (+250)
Correct score: 2-2 (+1200)
Sebastian Andersson to score anytime (+145)
Robin Quaison to score anytime (+190)
