Newly-promoted Heidenheim and Bremen will play their fourth round match of the 2023-24 league season this Sunday afternoon at the Werder Arena. Both teams have made poor starts to the new season and will be looking to turn things around this weekend by taking all three points.
Werder Bremen picked up a hard-fought 1-0 win against Borussia Mönchengladbach on September 7 at Berlusia Park. Ole Werner's side took the lead through Justin Nyonginma with five minutes left in what turned out to be a pivotal moment in a tense game. The win came on the back of Bremen's 4-0 thrashing of Mainz, a victory that lifted Bremen to 11th place in the Bundesliga table, two points ahead of the bottom three and two points behind the top half of the table by the same amount.
Next up, Bremen will face an opponent that has won only one of their last five matches against each other in all competitions. However, that lone win came in the most recent meeting in March 2022, when the hosts narrowly escaped with a 2-1 victory.
Heidenheim lost 1-3 to Nuremberg in a friendly match two weeks ago, which was played at the Max Morlock Stadium. After Eric Wicksell's opening goal, Frank Schmidt's side came back through Christian Kurweit before two goals from Julian Kania and Johannes Geis decided the outcome of the game.
With just one point from the opening three rounds, Heidenheim are currently 15th in the table, just ahead of the relegation zone on goal difference. After their first loss in their last home game, the hosts on Sunday now start trying to avoid a first consecutive loss to their fans in the last two years.
Christian Kurvet scored for Heidenheim on his comeback and will likely keep his starting spot. Allydon Paine has been ruled out for the visitors with a long-term knee injury, while Manon Bush is unavailable with a hip problem. Twenty-six year old Benedikt Kimber started the last game but is expected to return to the bench for this weekend's game. Werder Bremen's Felix Agu and Leonardo Bittencourt are both unavailable due to knee injuries, although the former's recovery is getting better. Guinea international Naby Keita is still waiting to make his debut for the visitors after he was unable to play in pre-season with a groin injury.
HEIDENHEIM'S PROBABLE STARTING LINEUP: Muller; Traore, Mainka, Hillsleben, Turlkow; Tomara, Maloney; Best, Baker, Dinkie; Kleindienst
Bremen's likely starting lineup: Pavlenka; Friedel, Stark, Piper; Wing, Gross, Weisser; Schmidt, Stager; Kovacic, Dukesch
SCORE PREDICTION: HEIDENHEIM 1-1 BREWMER Both of these teams are performing similarly in terms of their attacking records, and we expect them both to score. That said, we predict this game will end in a draw, with both sides having to settle for a final point.
