In one of the most important games of the weekend in the Bundesliga, VfL Bochum welcome SV Darmstadt 98 to the Ruhrstadion on Sunday night.
Bochum's recent dismal run has dragged them into the relegation picture, while Darmstadt are being cut further adrift from the other sides in the drop zone with them.
Match preview
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Yet another defeat before the international break means Bochum remain in free fall, as they are now in danger of being caught by the bottom three despite there being such a huge gap not too long ago.
Since a famous 3-2 win over Bayern Munich last month, Thomas Letsch's side have now lost four in a row - conceding 13 in the process.
That comes after losing only four of the previous 16 games that preceded this worrying run, and defeat to Mainz last time out was extremely disappointing, given their plight.
Bochum's next four games are now crucial, with bottom-of-the-table Darmstadt up next, then Koln, who are also in the bottom three, before two fixtures against out-of-form Heidenheim and Wolfsburg.
One positive is that 18 of their 25 points this season have come at home, but a bizarre statistic is that Bochum have won only two of the last 13 games where they have been playing the side currently bottom of the Bundesliga.
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For Darmstadt, another defeat here will all but condemn them to relegation barring a late miracle, as they sit 12 points adrift of safety.
Having gone 19 games without a win, it looks incredibly unlikely that Torsten Lieberknecht's side could even pull themselves off the bottom of the standings at present.
A difficult run has seen the Lilies lose three in a row, but the manner of those defeats to Augsburg, RB Leipzig and Bayern Munich have been demoralising, losing by a combined scoreline of 13-2 across those games.
In the three-points-per-win era, only Schalke in 2020-21 (10 points) have had fewer points than Darmstadt's 13 at this stage of a Bundesliga campaign, making relegation look inevitable.
Team News
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Momo Kwarteng remains out for the season for Bochum with his knee injury, while Tim Oermann and Danilo Soares are unlikely to be ready to return.
Takuma Asano is set to start though and will hope to replicate his exploits from the reverse fixture, when he netted twice to guide Bochum to a 2-1 win.
Darmstadt are going to be without Bartol Franjic after the Croatian midfielder was booked in their 5-2 defeat to Bayern last time out.
Braydon Manu is doubtful but unlikely to return so soon, while Fraser Hornby, Marvin Mehlem and Fabian Nurnburger remain sidelined.
VfL Bochum possible starting lineup:
Riemann; Gamboa, Schlotterbeck, Ordets, Bernardo; Osterhage, Losilla, Stoger; Asano, Hofmann, Antwi-Adjei
SV Darmstadt 98 possible starting lineup:
Schuhen; Bader, Klarer, Poppler-Isherwood, Karic; Justvan, Holland, Kempe, Honsak; Vilhelmsson, Skarke
We say: VfL Bochum 1-1 SV Darmstadt 98
With both on lengthy losing and winless streaks, it is tough to make a case for either side taking maximum points here.
Darmstadt need a win to resurrect any hopes of survival, while Bochum desperately need something on the board to move clear of Koln and Mainz, who are closing in on them.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Andrew Delaney
