Paderborn – Heidenheim

The second team in the division will not be able to win on the road

The historically modest Heidenheim had never previously played in the Bundesliga but began to show promotion ambitions from the 2018/2019 season. Since then, the team of "eternal" Frank Schmidt has never once fallen into the second half of the standings, and in the 2019/2020 season had the first real opportunity to reach Germany's elite division, but failed to beat Werder in the play-offs, postponing the Bremen club's relegation until next season. Today, Heidenheim stand two steps away from winning a direct entry to the Bundesliga. Three rounds before the finish line, Schmidt's side have a four-point advantage over third-placed Hamburg. In other words, two wins in the final three meetings guarantee the visitors in the upcoming match at least second place in the final. Paderborn, unlike their opponents, were guests in the country's premier league four years ago, but were relegated straight away. Now Lukasz Kwasnjok's side have a theoretical chance of third place, which they are unlikely to relinquish. Hamburg are six points behind, but Tim Walter's side have been systematically misfiring, encouraging the pursuing St Pauli, Fortuna Düsseldorf and Paderborn. The bookmakers have picked the home side as the favourites for the upcoming meeting, offering odds of 2.21 on their victory. Paderborn could cut the gap from third place to three points in the last round, but in their head-to-head encounter with Hamburg, they only managed to snatch a draw, losing twice in the course of the meeting. Overall, Kwaśniok's unbeaten streak now stands at four games, but a different sequence attracts more attention. Paderborn won all three home games in April, scoring a total of eleven goals against their opponents. This is the kind of playing form the team displayed at home at the beginning of this season, when for a time it was the leader of the Second Bundesliga. Heidenheim suffered a setback in early April, but quickly levelled things up, not conceding a goal in the last four rounds and picking up ten points from a possible twelve. However, Paderborn are capable of cracking even the division's best defence and achieving a winning result at home.