The Bundesliga's weekend of action concludes with Hoffenheim hoping to reignite their challenge for the European places when they welcome a revitalised Arminia Bielefeld side to the PreZero Arena on Sunday.
The hosts have endured a dreadful start to 2022 so far, whilst the visitors have enjoyed an unbeaten start to the New Year in their quest to avoid the drop.
Match preview
After beginning 2022 with a comfortable 3-1 win over struggling Augsburg, Hoffenheim extended their strong run of form to six wins, two draws and one defeat across nine Bundesliga matches.
This excellent spell had propelled Sebastian Hoeness's side into the Champions League places, and their strong momentum appeared unbreakable to many.
However, since that routine victory, Die Kraichgauer have lost four straight matches across all competitions, with three arriving in the league and the other being a 4-1 hammering at home to Freiburg in the DFB-Pokal.
Clinical finishing was the difference last weekend when Hoffenheim visited a well-organised Mainz 05 side, with Hoffenheim missing a host of chances before their hosts took theirs in a quickfire double inside the last 10 minutes.
That fourth consecutive defeat has left Sunday's hosts in eighth place at the time of writing, with the incredibly competitive nature of the Bundesliga's top half of the table this year meaning they remain only three points off Union Berlin inside the Champions League places, despite their recent struggles.
With Hoffenheim playing last on matchday 22 though, the outlook could be far different come kickoff on Sunday, but Hoeness will have his side focused on an expected response in order to reignite their challenge for the European places once more.
Meanwhile, the visitors extended their unbeaten start to the new year with a hard-fought 1-1 draw at home to Borussia Monchengladbach last weekend.
Gladbach had plenty of possession and attempts on goal against Frank Kramer's side, but ultimately, Bielefeld's excellent organisation in defence restricted their opponents to few clear opportunities in front of goal.
This has been a common theme for Die Arminen either side of the winter break, with the relegation-threatened side now heading into Sunday's trip on the back of a six-match unbeaten run that has seen them concede just five goals in the process.
Perhaps the only disappointment during this spell was the inability to defeat bottom-of-the-table Greuther Furth on home soil, but it is a run of form that has lifted Bielefeld out of the relegation places and into 15th place as things stand.
Sunday's visitors remain level on points with Augsburg below them in the relegation playoff spot, but do hold a four-point advantage over Stuttgart in the automatic drop zone, although as is the case with their hosts, this outlook could look a whole lot different before a ball is kicked at the PreZero Arena.
Nevertheless, Kramer and his side will head to Hoffenheim with plenty of confidence in their ability to achieve yet another positive result, during what has quickly become their best run of form all season by some distance.
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Team News
Hoffenheim will have to make do without their key forward Andrej Kramaric on Sunday, after the Croatian tested positive for COVID-19 in the last few days.
However, Chris Richards and Sebastian Rudy are fit to return and should come back into the starting lineup immediately, with Stefan Posch and Angelo Stiller likely to make way.
Marco John is also ruled out through COVID-19 though, whilst Ermin Bicakcic, Pavel Kaderabek and Robert Skov are unavailable due to injuries.
As for the visitors, they will also do without a vital component in their forward line on Sunday, with Patrick Wimmer serving a one-match suspension after picking up his fifth yellow card of the campaign last weekend.
Left-back Andres Andrade has also been ruled out due to an ankle injury, whilst Robin Hack remains a doubt after missing out on the draw with Gladbach as well.
Alessandro Schopf is the most likely option to deputise for Wimmer, although Bryan Lasme will also be hopeful of earning a starting spot in his place.
Hoffenheim possible starting lineup:
Baumann; Richards, Vogt, Hubner; Bebou, Rudy, Geiger, Raum; Rutter, Baumgartner; Dabbur
Arminia Bielefeld possible starting lineup:
Ortega; Brunner, Pieper, Nilsson, De Medina; Kunze, Vasiliadis; Okugawa, Schopf, Kruger; Serra
We say: Hoffenheim 1-1 Arminia Bielefeld
Although many will be predicting a relatively-comfortable win for Hoffenheim on Sunday, we can see the visitors managing to earn a hard-fought point once more at the PreZero Arena.
The hosts will be missing their key man Kramaric, and although the visitors face a setback of their own in the form of Wimmer's absence, Hoffenheim's dreadful run of form being coupled with Bielefeld's solid spell in recent weeks mean we are predicting for this encounter to finish level.
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