Mainz will be looking to extricate themselves away from fangs of the relegation zone. They showed some fighting spirit on the resumption of fixtures last weekend after coming from 2 goals down in the second half of the game to draw 2-2 away at Cologne, which keeps them 15th in the table and four points above the relegation play-off position currently occupied by Fortuna Dusseldorf. They are unbeaten in their last three games although the win they had in this timespan was over rock bottom Paderborn.
Their home form is nothing to write home about. They have won four, drawn two and lost seven of the thirteen games at the Opel Arena scoring just 15 goals and conceding 21. Their 15 home goals is the 4th worst in the league. However, if there is an opponent, they would love to beat at home it is the visitors. They lost the reverse fixture 8-0 in November and will be keen to exact a modicum of revenge if they can, or at the very least offer more resistance. They will need to play better than they did last weekend though as they afforded a lot of opportunities to Cologne who failed to capitalize and ultimately cost themselves the game. Mainz need no reminders that Leipzig are not the type that can be that forgiving.
On-loan Liverpool forward Taiwo Awoniyi scored the first goal against Cologne but he will be coming off the bench for this game with Quaison, Dong-Won Ji and Karim Onisiwo starting. Pierre Kundo will start in midfield with Jean-Paul Boetius after his heroics earned his team a share of the spoils with the equalizing goal.
RB Leipzig lost ground on Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund in the Bundesliga title race and now face a crucial game at Mainz as they bid to get their campaign back on track. The pressure of a title race may be taking a toll on them as they have struggled to win games lately and find themselves in 4th position seven points adrift of league leaders Bayern. Leipzig had to battle back to earn a point against Freiburg last weekend. They showed a bit rustiness in that game as they had more than 20 shots against Freiburg and could have won it on any other day. Sunday’s game gives them an opportunity to get back to winning ways.
Although they are struggling to fill in the win’s column, Julian Nagelsmann’s men are unbeaten in the last eight games in all competitions and have only lost one of their last eight away league matches. With just 8 games to go, Leipzig will be going all out to maintain a top 4 finish a top-four finish, especially against a Mainz side fiddling with relegation, and who they beat 8-0 earlier in the season, with German sensation Timo Werner grabbing a hat-trick.
Werner, who is second behind Lewandowski on the Bundesliga goal-scoring chart, will be looking get his name on the scorers’ table and catch up with Lewandowski who is starting to pull away. He will lead the lines alongside Yussuf Poulsen with Christopher Nkunku and Kevin Kampl supporting them from midfield.
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RB Leipzig are desperate to get back to winning ways asap. They are losing ground in the title fight and even more importantly, they might open up a chance for the top four chasing pack to dislodge them if they fail to pick up all three points here. This game presents them the perfect opportunity to kill these two birds with one stone. They created a lot of chances last weekend which they failed to convert. We expect them to clean up those errors now that they have shaken off the hangover occasioned by the break. We are therefore backing them to win the game @ 1.42 for our initial betting tip.
To do this, they need their top striker and inspiration to step up to the plate. Timo Werner is one of the top marksmen in Europe. A hot commodity that has drawn attention from top European clubs. He scored a hattrick the last time these teams met. He has 21 goals to his name this season. Only Lewandowski has bettered that mark. Bwin betting app has priced him to score at 1.73. With the sense of urgency we anticipate from Leipzig, we can see him making his mark here and we are fairly confident he will make his mark and score anytime as our last tip for this game.
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