Greuther Fürth will welcome Arminia Bielefeld to the Sportpark Ronhof Thomas Sommer Stadium on Saturday in what hopefully will be an enthralling encounter.

Fürth comes into the match on the back of a humbling 5-1 defeat against VFB Stuttgart in what was a shocking defensive display, with Stuttgart managing to register a staggering 33 shots on their goal.

The result means that Greuther sit in 17th place going into the match, and with difficult games against Hertha Berlin, VFB Wolfsburg, and Bayern Munich after the international break, it already looks like this is a must-win match on Saturday.

Bielefeld, meanwhile, will hope to build on their draw last time out against SC Freiburg in what was a lackluster match, with neither team able to register more than five shots on goal.

The result means Bielefeld currently sit in 11th, level on points with Bayer Leverkusen in 7th. This game also looks like a big one for Bielefeld, as they have a difficult set of fixtures after the aforementioned break, with those coming against Borussia Mönchengladbach, TSG Hoffenheim, and Union Berlin.

Team news

Fürth's manager Stefan Leitl will have several injury concerns going into the match, with Simon Asta, Robin Kehr, and new loan signing  Jessic Ngakam all set to miss out due to injury. Then there's Max Christiansen, who is unlikely to feature due to a lack of match fitness.

In contrast, Bielefeld's manager Frank Kramer has no massive injury problems, with Sebastian Vasiliadis being the team's only absentee.

Predicted Lineups

Greuther Fürth: Burchet, Bauer, Hoogma, Jung, Itter, Green, Seguin, Fein, Meyerhöfer, Abima, Leweling.

Arminia Bielefeld: Ortega, Brunner, Pieper, Nilsson, Laursen, Prietl, Kunze, Schöpf, Hack, Serra, Krüger.

Ones to watch

Jamie Leweling 

In a disappointing afternoon for Gruether last time out, the one bright spark was  Jamie Leweling, who came on as a sub in the 85th minute. Then, eight minutes later, he scored Fürth's first goal of the new Bundesliga season.

With the transfer of David Raum to Hoffenheim, Greuther were always going to struggle to create goals, and with last season's top goalscorer Branmimir Hrogta not finding the net so far and having a quiet pre-season, someone else has to step up to the mark.

Leweling is the type of player that can make a difference in a match and create an opportunity out of nothing. His speed and trickery as well as the fact that he scored last week means that Leitl will more than likely pick him to start up front to try and provide an attacking spark. However, if he is not selected in the starting eleven, he will still likely have a big impact coming off the bench.

Florian Krüger

After finishing just two points off of the relegation play-off place last season, Bielefeld knows that they need to score more goals if they want to stay up this season. 

As a result, they signed several new strikers, one of which being Florian Krüger. He managed to score 11 goals in 34 games in the 2. Bundesliga last season, and he also provided seven assists, leading to him being snapped up by Bielefeld this summer.

Although Krüger did not start the match against Freiburg, he did come on as a sub. With the lack of goals from Fabian Klos and Bryan Lasme, and his proven track record of scoring them, it is more than likely that  Kramer will put him in the starting eleven for Saturday to try and find the back of the net.

Last time out

The last time these two played each other was in February of 2020 in the 2. Bundesliga in an absolutely thrilling 4-2 win for Bielefeld.

Bielefeld started the stronger team and capitalised on their superiority early on, with their first goal coming in the 13th minute. Daniel Keita-Ruel failed to clear a corner, and when the ball came back into the penalty area, Maximillian Witteg headed it into the bottom left-hand corner from five yards out.

Things went from bad to worse for Fürth as Bielefeld scored again in the 35th minute to put themselves 2-0 up. Marcel Hartel picked the ball up in his own half and played it into the feet of Fabian Klos, who was able to turn and run straight towards Sascha Burchert in the Greuter goal. With no defenders around, he took the ball around the keeper and tapped it into an empty net.

The second half started much the same way as the first, with Fürth struggling to cope with the pressure from Bielefeld. Eventually, in the 68th minute, Bielefeld got their third thanks to a penalty scored by Klos to put Bielefeld in a position to secure a comfortable win. 

However, out of nowhere, Greuther pulled a goal back just five minutes later to give them hope of a comeback. Timothy Tillman got space on the edge of the box before he dribbled past Amos Pieper and effortlessly chipped the ball over Stefan Ortega, who had dived early.

But any hopes of a comeback were quickly forgotten when Paul Jaeckel scored an own goal to give Bielefeld their fourth goal. Jonathon Clauss made progress down the left-wing and put a dangerous ball into the box that Jaeckel went to clear. However, he miscued his clearance and the ball went into his own goal.

Fürth did grab a consolation goal two minutes into added time. Tillman put in a dangerous ball towards the back post from the right-hand side, and Kenny Prince Redondo headed it home from close range.

How to watch

The match kicks off at 15:30. Unfortunately viewers in the UK will not be able to watch the match live as it is not being broadcasted by anyone, but people in the US can watch match using ESPN+.

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