RB Leipzig look to get back on track after a dreadful week put their Champions League hopes into doubt as they play host to FC Augsburg at the Red Bull Arena on Sunday.  Kick-off is at 18:30 GMT.

Die Rotten Bullen bowed out of the Europe League at the semi-final stage on Thursday so will have to qualify for the Champions League using their league position.

They currently sit 5th in the standings a point off the Champions League positions so will be looking to put the pain of Thursday out of their minds as they host a relatively safe FC Augsburg side.

The Fuggerstädter sit in 14th place in the Bundesliga, six points ahead of VFB Stuttgart who sit in the relegation play-off place.

  • Team News

Leipzig will most likely rotate their starting eleven after their European exerts midweek but Domenico Tedesco confirmed they have no new injury news meaning he will have a full strength squad to pick from for this massive game.

Markus Weinzierl told the press at Friday’s press conference that both Iago and Andre Hahn are doubts for Sunday’s game.

The German coach stated that Brazilian defender Iago suffered a bad bruise last week in their defeat against FC Koln.

Other than those two doubts Augsburg will be going into this tough away game with a fully fit squad.

  • Predicted Lineups

Leipzig: Gulasci, Klostermann, Orban, Gvardiol, Mukiele, Laimer, Kampl, Angelino, Nkunku, Silva, Szoboszlai

Augsburg: Gikiewicz, Gumny, Gouweleeuw, Oxford, Caligiuri, Maier, Dorsch, Framberger, Pedersen, Vargas, Gregoritsch

  • Form Guide

RB Leipzig go into this fixture after having the week from hell, which has put their place in next seasons Champions League in major doubt.

On Monday they fell to a 3-1 defeat at the hands of Borussia Monchengladbach and then on Thursday they fell to another 3-1 loss as they crashed out of the Europa League.

This recent dip in from will concern boss Domenico Tedesco who knows his side will need to pick up a win this weekend to have any chance on the last game week of qualifying for Europe’s most prestige competition. 

Last time out Augsburg fell to a 4-1 defeat against Europe chasing FC Koln at the WWK Arena.

Goals from Jan Theilmann, Mark Uth and a brace from Anthony Modeste compounded Augsburg to their 15th loss of the campaign.

They have won three of their last six games, helping them move away from the relegation places and giving their fans less to worry about going into this tough away fixture. 

  • Ones to watch

 

Embed from Getty Images

Christopher Nkunku has been a revelation this year in the Bundesliga and if Augsburg are going to get anything from this fixture they will have to stop the Frenchman.

The 24-year-old has scored a remarkable 18 goals this season as well as providing 13 assists which has been the main reason RB Leipzig are still in contention for the Champions League places after a poor start to the season under Jesse Marsch.

After going four games without a goal the versatile attacker grabbed both consolidation goals in this week's two defeats. 

 

Embed from Getty Images

One defender for Augsburg that will be tasked with trying to stop the on fire Nkunku will be Reece Oxford.

The Englishman has struggled since making the move away from West Ham permanently in 2019 but this season has come into his own with a man of the match performance two weeks ago against VFL Bochum in a 2-0 win.

After a few seasons of playing a bit part role the now 23-year-old (yes, that West Ham debut was seven years ago) has played 28 of the 32 Bundesliga games this season being a mainstay within the three at the back formation Augsburg use. 

  • Previous Meetings

In the reverse fixture the two sides couldn’t be separated as they drew 1-1 at the WWK Arena in December.

A late penalty by Augsburg’s Daniel Caligiuri cancelled out Portuguese international, Andre Silva’s opener.

The two teams have met on 15 occasions with RB Leipzig having the upper hand with eight wins compared to Augsburg’s three.

The other four matches ended in a draw which would be enough this weekend to confirm Augsburg’s status in the Bundesliga for a 12th consecutive season. 

  • Where to watch on TV:

This game will be broadcasted live in the UK on Sky Sports Mix from 6.30pm on Sunday.