St Pauli vs 1. FC Köln preview: First of many relegation six-pointers

St Pauli vs 1. FC Köln preview: First of many relegation six-pointers

St. Pauli

St Pauli are low off the back of a customary thrashing at the hands of Bayern Munich which many teams around them in the table (Hamburg, Werder Bremen, Heidenheim, Wolfsburg) have already received this season.

Therefore, all dips in hope will no doubt be held within reason as St. Pauli look to take on a more level opponent in Köln. However, it will not be an easy game.

St Pauli's Rückrunde (second half of the season) table has not seen them in the bottom three (13th) so they are playing a game of catch-up from 2025's missed opportunities.

Despite this, the table does reflect whereabouts St Pauli were projected by many to finish albeit with the point that they have conceded far too many goals compared to last season.

With a favourable fixture list, St Pauli will hope that Nikola Vaslij can continue to keep the defence in shape as he is the third-highest for number of saves in the entire Bundesliga.

Ahead of the game, St Pauli coach has made some peculiar comments and said: “Now we are especially not going to be dancing on chairs (German idiom)."

Team news

St Pauli will be without Ricky Jade Jones who is a long-term injury and most likely without loanee James Sands and also Eric Smith as starters. Joel Chima Fujita is suspended for one game due to yellow cards.

Predicted lineup (3-4-2-1) right to left:

Vasilj - Andö, Wahl, Mets- Saliakas, Irvine, Rasmussen, Pyrka - Sinani, Pereira Lage - Hountodji

FC Köln

The good news for Köln is that they picked up their last win since January on against Werder Bremen last matchday.

Adding to this, the Cathedral side are now unbeaten in their last four Bundesliga outings with two games either side of the Lukas Kwasniok sacking and the international break.

New head coach René Wagner has four points out of two including a tough away trip to Eintracht Frankfurt with one point being sure under the new coach: goals are guaranteed!

The newly found frontline of Ragnar Ache and Said El Mala offers the Rhine side depth and differing qualities in their attacking talent with physicality, speed, dribbling and goals all accounted for.

Köln's front three of Jakub Kamiński, Ragnar Ache and Said El Mala have a combined 34 goal contributions in the Bundesliga this campaign proving Köln's attacking output is not the reason they find themselves fighting against relegation.

As a point of weakness for St. Pauli to explore, Köln have not kept a clean sheet since their last win before Bremen in late January.

Consistent chop and change of the backline for Köln outside of keeper Marvin Schwäbe has meant a lack of consistency at the back.

Ahead of the game on Friday, Köln coach Wagner said: “St Pauli transition dangerously and have a lot of solutions on the ball. It comes down to our defensive stability - we were outstanding in that area against Bremen.”

Bulinews is only aware of one case this season in the league where the Billy Goats have kept the same backline two games in a row and this was against Hamburg late last year followed by Borussia Mönchengladbach in the derby.

With this in mind, it is a chance for Köln coach René Wagner to take control of the team and make unprecedented history this season for the club in his team sheet selection so early on in his head coach career.

Team news

After returning from injury in March, there is a tendency that Alessio Castro-Montes will start for Köln as coach René Wagner indicated he is a starting eleven candidate in his press conference this week.

Timo Hübers and Luca Kilian complete the now-short list of injuries for Köln for players who can feature in the starting eleven. Both are long-term injuries since early in the Bundesliga season.

Predicted lineup (4-4-2) right to left:

Schwäbe - Sebulonsen, Simpson-Pusey, Özkacar, Lund - Castro-Montes, Jóhanesson, Martel, Kamiński - Ache, El Mala