Paderborn – Cologne

The hosts will try to push their rivals from the second position of the championship

The next round of the Second Bundesliga will feature a clash between the teams that are in the top 3 favourites to win the division and, as a consequence, to be directly promoted. Before the start of the game day, Hamburg are leading the standings, while their opponents at the Home Deluxe Arena are in the second and third positions. Cologne are two points ahead of Paderborn, which means they risk losing second place in the event of a defeat. Paderborn have been close to the top of the division before but the failure of a few games before the winter break and a few games after it has meant that the club has had to spend the last few weeks trying to regain ground. Cologne crashed out of the Bundesliga last year. Struber's men took quite a while to get used to the second division, but a few weeks ago they topped the standings. Now "goats" go second, being at arm's length from the leading Hamburg. Bookmakers have identified the home team as the favourites for the upcoming game, offering odds of 2.27 on their victory. Paderborn have had a decent start to the season in the Second Bundesliga. However, the team's good form had dried up by December last year, when it picked up one point in the final three games, losing two home games. After the winter break, Paderborn lost two more of their three matches before picking their heads up. Since the first decade of February, the club have won four times in six rounds without losing once. Paderborn's playing form over this period can only be compared to Hamburg. The home team will also have a psychological advantage over their opponents. In the first round Paderborn defeated Cologne away with a score of 2:1, scoring their goals in the 76th and 80th minutes. Cologne ended 2024 with a fine winning streak and went into the winter break on the back of optimism of the players and fans. Another thing is that an easy life in the new year at the "goats" does not work out. In nine rounds since mid-January, Struber's team has lost points four times, which allows it to stay near the top of the standings only because of the general instability of the best clubs in the division. The hosts will play better than their opponents.