FC Nurnberg v FC Augsburg
Bundesliga Relegation Play-Off
Venue : Easy-Credit-Stadion
Thursday, 13th May 2010 – kickoff 20:30

FC Nurnberg

FC Nurnberg found themselves in a position just like last year to play in a Play Out match to stay in the Bundelsiga. Last season they were third in the 2.Bundesliga and they played against Energie Cottbus, clearly beating them twice 2-0 and 3-0.

Now the things are a bit different as they will have to fight to stay up. They finished the season on the 16th spot with 31 points and just two points behind the safe zone. In the last round of the Bundesliga season they beat FC Koln 1-0 which was not enough to prevent them from playing in this deciding match-up from which the winner will play in the Bundesliga next season.

It has been a tough season for this team as they had some impressive results like beating Bayer Leverkusen 3-2 and drawing 1-1 against the champions Bayern Munich but they have dropped lots of points against the teams from the bottom. They finished the Bundesliga season with a home record of five wins, four draws and eight losses. Away they had only three wins and three draws with eleven lost matches.

Coach Dieter Hecking has his full squad to choose from and will play with four defenders, bit more offensive midfield than usual and with two strikers, but worrying thing is that their top scorer Albert Bunjaku has not scored for the team in the last eight straight Bundesliga matches.

Probable FC Nurnberg line-up :
R. Schäfer,
Judt, Maroh, Wolf, Pinola,
Ottl, Gündogan, Frantz ,
Mintal,
Eigler, Bunjaku

FC Augsburg

Augsburg have finished the season third in the 2.Bundesliga with 62 points, just two points behind St.Pauli who got promoted in the Bundesliga together with Kaiserslautern at the first place.

Their form was great throughout the season and if they had not drew 1-1 against FSV Frankfurt just couple of rounds before the end of the season they could have easily finished second. In the last round of the 2.Bundesliga season they played against the champions Kaiserslautern and also drew 1-1.

This team was much better when playing home than away this last season as they had eleven home wins, five draws and lost only once. Their away record was pretty balanced with six wins, six draws and five losses.

This team mainly relies on their top striker – Michael Thurk who finished the season as the best 2.Bundesliga scorer with 23 goals behind his name.

The team will miss two players in this match – the midfielder Elton Da Costa is out with flu and the attacker Sandor Torghelle is recovering from a knee injury.

Probable FC Augsburg line-up :
Jentzsch ,
Reinhardt, Möhrle, de Roeck, Bellinghausen,
Hegeler, Brinkmann , Baier, Traore
Thurk, S. Hain

The Betting Verdict

This will be the first match from this Bundesliga Play Out match-up, and the rematch will be this Sunday in Augsburg. Augsburg have not played for 88 years in the German top flight football so this is a good opportunity for this team to finally make the last step as they are very close.

The pressure is bigger on Nurnberg rather on Augsburg. They have to perform very good at home if they want to stay up, because Augsburg was the best home team this last season and have the top striker in the 2.Bundesliga.

However, FC Nurnberg have the experience from matches like these and i think that they will give their best in the first leg and edge their opponent. Augsburg will probably look to score and might be satisfied with draw expecting to finish the job in the rematch. FC Nurnberg are a decent home team and i think that they will get a narrow win here with couple of goals.

The Pick :

FC Nurnberg 2-1 FC Augsburg

FIXED ODDS BETTING :

Take the Home win for FC Nurnberg