RB Leipzig entertain FC Koln in the Bundesliga on Saturday with the hosts fully focused on moving top of the table with a victory.
With Bayer Leverkusen and Bayern Munich facing each other later in the day, there is a chance both title rivals will drop points, allowing Leipzig to end the calendar year as league leaders providing they get the job done against Koln.
Match preview
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Leipzig's hard-fought 1-0 win at Hoffenheim on Wednesday ensured Julian Nagelsmann's side kept pace with the top two sides in the league.
The hosts were missing several first-team players through injury and suspension, but as the old adage goes: you can only beat what is in front of you, and that is precisely what Leipzig did, albeit in a game which did not exactly capture the neutral's imagination.
Indeed, there were only five shots on target across the 90 minutes, with Yussuf Poulsen's goal moments before the hour mark proving to be the decisive strike of the match after excellent work in midfield by Marcel Sabitzer.
Should Leipzig defeat Koln on Saturday, which Nagelsmann will be looking to ensure his players are not remotely complacent about, a share of the spoils in the top-of-the-table clash between Leverkusen and Bayern would ensure Leipzig head into the winter break as league leaders.
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Things are not so rosy for Koln, however, even if last weekend's win at fellow strugglers Mainz 05 has helped move Markus Gisdol's side outside of the relegation places.
However, Wednesday night's 4-0 home defeat to Bayer Leverkusen in the Rhine Derby illustrated that they are unlikely to put any significant distance between themselves and the bottom three any time soon.
Koln conceded two goals in each half to the league leaders, with Mitchell Weiser and Moussa Diaby striking before the break and Patrik Schick and Florian Wirtz confirming the rout in the second half, with Gisdol likely to be alarmed by the fact that his side did not muster a single shot on target across the entire 90 minutes.
Gisdol's side are unlikely to have much more joy at the weekend against the league's tightest defence in Leipzig, who have won all six of their home matches in the league this season.
RB Leipzig Bundesliga form: WDWDWW
RB Leipzig form (all competitions): WWDWWW
FC Koln Bundesliga form: DLWDWL
Team News
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Leipzig will remain without the services of the injured Lukas Klostermann, Konrad Laimer, Fabrice Hartmann and Benjamin Henrichs, with Lazar Samardzic unavailable due to coronavirus.
Nagelsmann generally likes to rotate his side, but given the forthcoming winter break, he may look to play his strongest available side, which would mean very few changes from the narrow midweek win at Hoffenheim.
Koln's injury issues appear to be easing, meanwhile, with only Florian Kainz remaining out after undergoing knee surgery earlier this year.
Captain Jonas Hector returned to first-team action from the substitutes' bench in the defeat to Leverkusen having recovered from a neck injury, but the 30-year-old may be eased into things.
RB Leipzig possible starting lineup:
Gulasci; Mukiele, Konate, Upamecano, Angelino; Kampl, Sabitzer; Nkunku, Olmo, Forsberg; Poulsen
FC Koln possible starting lineup:
T. Horn; Cestic, Bornauw, J. Horn; Wolf, Jakobs, Skhiri, Ozcan, Rexhbecaj; Thielmann, Andersson
We say: RB Leipzig 2-0 FC Koln
We expect Leipzig to sustain their perfect home domestic record this season by comfortably dispatching Koln and moving top of the table ahead of Saturday's subsequent clash between Leverkusen and Bayern.
Koln have performed better on the road than they have at home this season, but are likely to find it tough to breach a Leipzig back-line which has improved immeasurably this season.
Top betting 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 60.37%. A draw had a probability of 20.2% and a win for FC Koln had a probability of 19.39%.
The most likely scoreline for a RB Leipzig win was 2-1 with a probability of 9.81%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-0 (8.59%) and 1-0 (7.99%). The likeliest drawn scoreline was 1-1 (9.12%), while for a FC Koln win it was 1-2 (5.21%). The actual scoreline of 0-0 was predicted with a 3.7% likelihood.
