SV Darmstadt 98 will attempt to reach the DFB-Pokal round of 16 for the second time in three seasons when they play host to Borussia Monchengladbach on Tuesday.
The visitors, who have won the competition on three occasions, are aiming to progress to the third round for the third consecutive campaign.
Match preview
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As a 2.Bundesliga team, Darmstadt may go into Tuesday's cup tie as underdogs, but their form this season suggests that they have the ability to pull off an upset.
Since losing to Jahn Regensburg on the opening day of the season, Darmstadt have embarked on a 12-game unbeaten run in all competitions.
In that period, they have won nine games, including a comfortable 3-0 victory in the first round of the DFB-Pokal against Ingolstadt.
Darmstadt will face a much tougher opponent on Tuesday, but having avoided defeat in all six of their games at the Merck-Stadion am Bollenfalltor this season, they will look to make the most of home advantage.
The 2.Bundesliga leaders also have the chance to claim a fifth straight competitive victory after they came from behind to beat Karlsruhe at the weekend thanks to goals from Patric Pfeiffer and Phillip Tietz.
While Darmstadt are enjoying a successful campaign in the second tier, Gladbach are faring well in the top-flight after collecting 16 points from their opening 10 games.
Although Daniel Farke's tenure has Gladbach boss has got off to a promising start, the visitors will head into Tuesday's game winless in their last five away matches.
Having failed to win on the road since thrashing Oberachern 9-1 in the first round of the cup, Gladbach had the chance to beat their away day blues in Saturday's league meeting with Wolfsburg.
Marcus Thuram gave his side the lead on a couple of occasions, but goals from Yannick Gerhardt and Omar Marmoush denied the visitors their first away win of the Bundesliga season.
As Gladbach put their league campaign on hold, they will be dreaming of lifting their first Pokal trophy since 1995, but before they can focus on the latter stages of the competition, they must negotiate a tricky tie against the 2.Bundesliga leaders.
Team News
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Mathias Honsak, Fabian Schnellhardt and Klaus Gjasula are all expected to miss out for the hosts due to injury issues.
Torsten Lieberknecht may opt to name an unchanged lineup for Tuesday's contest, which would ensure that Jannik Muller, Christoph Zimmerman and Pfeiffer continue to operate in a back three.
Tietz has scored seven goals in all competition this season, and he will start in the forward line alongside Braydon Manu.
As for the visitors, they are unable to call upon the services of Christoph Kramer, Torben Musel, Hannes Wolf, Ko Itakura and Florian Neuhaus.
Farke is expected to keep changes to a minimum, although he may present Nathan Ngoumou with his first start for the club after joining from Toulouse in the summer.
Thuram scored a hat-trick in the first round, and the Frenchman will be looking to add to his 10-goal tally for the season when he leads the line on Tuesday.
SV Darmstadt 98 possible starting lineup:
Schuhen; Muller, Pfeiffer, Zimmerman; Bader, Kempe, Ben Balla, Holland; Mehlem, Manu, Tietz
Borussia Monchengladbach possible starting lineup:
Sommer; Scally, Friedrich, Elvedi, Bensebaini; Kone, Weigl; Hofmann, Stindl, Ngoumou; Thuram
We say: SV Darmstadt 98 1-2 Borussia Monchengladbach
Gladbach are winless in their five away league games, but four of those encounters have ended all square, proving that they are a tough team to beat.
Although Darmstadt are unbeaten in their last 12 matches, we think that they will be edged out by a Gladbach side who have a number of high-quality players to call upon.
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