Brighton
Man City
Udinese
Roma
Heerenveen
PSV Eindhoven
Go Ahead
Feyenoord
For their first away fixture of the year VfL travel to Mainz. Facing them on Saturday, and also midweek for the DFB-Pokal, VfL will be no strangers to Mainz. Here’s this week’s LOOK AHEAD on FSV Mainz 05:
THE TEAM
Under Bo Svensson Mainz have seen an upwards trajectory, but their form has dipped as of late. Mainz gained only three points from the last four fixtures and now find themselves in the mid of the table. Still, the team from Rhinehessen are enjoying a decent season. Key player of their balanced squad is forward Jonathan Burkardt. The German Under 21 international has scored seven goals this season. At the moment, European clubs are said to be interested in signing the player. New signing and former Kiel player Jae-Sung Lee also seems to be hitting his form. The South Korean recently scored in Leipzig. Their opponent benefitted from an early sending-off against Alexander Hack. Therefore, the defender misses the next match after the red card.
THE HEAD COACH
Bo Svensson is very familiar with Mainz’s Bruchweg stadium as he played for the club between 2007 and 2014. Svensson and Mainz make a good match and he’s already being compared to his famous predecessors Jürgen Klopp und Thomas Tuchel. The Dane took over in Mainz at the beginning of 2021 in a quite difficult phase and, saved the 05ers from relegation. Since then he racked up 16 impressive victories out of 38 games. This change definitely paid off. For seven years the former defender was a professional player in Mainz before he took his first steps as a coach as well as of 2014. In 2019 he moved to Austria, where Svensson became a professional head coach at FC Liefering.
THE RECORD
There have been 16 fixtures between both clubs so far, with six wins by VfL including the last two clashes. Both in the previous season in the DFB-Pokal as well as in Bochum’s first home victory after 11 years. Mainz have won eight matches, two games ended as a draw. The recent home match against Mainz will surely not only be remembered for the long-desired Bundesliga comeback but also for Gerrit Holtmann’s unbelievable solo run that was voted goal of the month of August and later awarded as goal of 2021 by the Bundesliga.
