RB Leipzig will battle with second-tier Hannover on Wednesday for a place in the DFB-Pokal semi-finals.
Die Roten Bullen progressed past Hansa Rostock in the last round, while Wednesday's hosts upset Borussia Monchengladbach with a 3-0 thrashing.
Match preview
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Hannover were drawn against fourth-tier Eintracht Norderstedt in the first game of their DFB-Pokal campaign, and they posted a dominant 4-0 victory before beating fellow 2. Bundesliga outfit Fortuna Dusseldorf 3-0.
Most recently, Christoph Dabrowski's side were drawn against top-flight Borussia Monchengladbach, and they dealt out another 3-0 thrashing against the odds as Maximilian Beier hit a brace alongside a goal from Sebastian Kerk.
That has seen Die Roten progress to the final eight of the national competition, with the run being a shining light in an otherwise underwhelming season, as Hannover are currently stuck in 13th spot in the German second tier.
They do come into Wednesday's tie in some form, though, having won their last two league outings, firstly recording a 3-0 away victory over third-placed St Pauli before Kerk and Niklas Hult netted goals in a 2-0 defeat of Holstein Kiel at the weekend.
Dabrowski's men will now look to dish out another upset and continue their eye-catching cup run by reaching the semi-finals.
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RB Leipzig began their DFB-Pokal campaign with 4-0 and 1-0 wins over Sandhausen and Babelsberg respectively, before Yussuf Poulsen and Dani Olmo ensured they progressed to the quarter-finals with a 2-0 win at home to Hansa Rostock.
After a difficult start to the campaign under Jesse Marsch, Die Roten Bullen look a new side with Domenico Tedesco at the helm, having earned nine victories from the 13 games since his appointment in December.
Their upturn in form has resulted in a climb up to fourth spot in the Bundesliga, having won six of their last seven top-flight outings, including a 1-0 defeat of VFL Bochum last time out thanks to Christopher Nkunku's decisive goal in the final 10 minutes.
Alongside their improving league campaign and growing cup run, Tedesco's men have also booked their place in the Europa League knockout stage with a 5-2 aggregate win over Real Sociedad in their two-legged playoff tie in recent weeks, sealing their progression with a 3-1 victory in Spain.
In what is quickly turning into a positive season for the Leipzig outfit, they will now look to book their place in the final four of the DFB-Pokal with a victory on the road on Wednesday.
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Team News
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Hannover are expected to remain without winger Philipp Ochs and important midfielder Sebastian Ernst, as the duo continue to recover from injuries.
Sebastian Kerk will again be a key man going forward, having contributed nine goals and four assists in 24 appearances across league and cup action this season.
Tedesco fielded a strong RB Leipzig side for their round-of-16 clash with Hansa Rostock, and he should do the same as they look to ensure they are not on the wrong end of an upset.
Yussuf Poulsen should again lead the line after his goal in the last round, while the likes of Dominik Szoboszlai, Christopher Nkunku, Andre Silva and Dani Olmo will be vying for starts around the target man.
At the other end of the pitch, Willi Orban could again command a back three also featuring Lukas Klostermann and Mohamed Simakan after their clean sheet against Bochum at the weekend.
Hannover possible starting lineup:
Zieler; Dehm, Franke, Borner, Hult; Diemers, Kaiser; Teuchert, Kerk, Stolze; Beier
RB Leipzig possible starting lineup:
Gulacsi; Klostermann, Orban, Simakan; Laimer, Adams, Haidara, Henrichs; Olmo; Silva, Poulsen
We say: Hannover 0-2 RB Leipzig
Hannover will certainly be no pushovers on Wednesday, but we ultimately back Tedesco's men to get the job done and reach the semi-final.
Given their far greater resources, RB Leipzig boast the far stronger squad on paper, and they will hope to show their quality and advance with a dominant victory.
Top tip
Data Analysis
Our analysis of all available data, including recent performances and player stats up until an hour before kickoff, suggested the most likely outcome of this match was a RB Leipzig win with a probability of 57.28%. A draw had a probability of 21.9% and a win for Hannover had a probability of 20.87%.
The most likely scoreline for a RB Leipzig win was 1-2 with a probability of 9.91%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 0-1 (9.36%) and 0-2 (9.1%). The likeliest drawn scoreline was 1-1 (10.19%), while for a Hannover win it was 2-1 (5.55%). The actual scoreline of 0-4 was predicted with a 2.9% likelihood. Our team at Sports Mole and our data analysis both correctly predicted that RB Leipzig would win this match.
