Paderborn and Nurnberg will both be looking to kick-start their 2021/22 campaigns when they meet in the 2. Bundesliga on Friday night.
Both sides recorded a goalless draw on the opening weekend of the season, with Paderborn drawing away at Heidenheim and Nurnberg being held by Erzgebirge on home soil.
Danke für euren tollen Support. 👏Wir freuen uns jetzt schon auf unser nächstes Heimspiel in drei Wochen! 🙌 #fcn #FCNAUE pic.twitter.com/jknR87zF1A— 1. FC Nürnberg (@1_fc_nuernberg) July 25, 2021
Danke für euren tollen Support. 👏Wir freuen uns jetzt schon auf unser nächstes Heimspiel in drei Wochen! 🙌 #fcn #FCNAUE pic.twitter.com/jknR87zF1A
As a result, Nurnberg and Paderborn find themselves eleventh and twelfth, respectively – two points shy of six teams on three points at the top of the table.
Paderborn can count themselves pretty fortunate to have come away from their opening game with a point.
They only saw 43% of the ball against Heidenheim and managed just two shots on target, while the hosts racked up 14 attempts – five of which were on target.
However, they were able to fend off Heidenheim and pick up and important point – using a defensive 4-2-3-1 formation to frustrate their opponents.
Paderborn won three of their five pre-season friendlies across June and July, including an impressive 3-1 victory over Bundesliga side Borussia Monchengladbach.
After finishing ninth in the standings in 2020/21, Paderborn will be hoping to improve on last term’s shortcomings this time around.
Interestingly, it is worth noting that Nurnberg finished just three points and two places behind Paderborn last season.
Nurnberg enjoyed a more positive pre-season, however, recording three wins and one draw in their four outings.
There is no denying that Nurnberg deserved to beat Erzgebirge last weekend, too, having chalked up a whopping 20 shots to the visitors’ seven.
They also enjoyed 62% possession but were unable to turn their dominance into goals, giving head coach Robert Klaus plenty to think about.
Head-to-head: Nurnberg have remained unbeaten against Paderborn since 2006, securing four wins and one draw in that time.
Nurnberg did the double over Paderborn last season, too, claiming a 2-0 away victory before winning the reverse fixture 2-1 on home soil.
Team news: Paderborn will be without injured duo Leopold Zingerle (goalkeeper) and Luca Marseiler (left winger) on Friday.
As for Nurnberg, they could be without as many as six first-team players on Friday, meaning Klaus has some selection dilemmas on his hands.
Both sides will be eager to get their first win of the season on the board, but Nurnberg’s impressive record in this fixture is difficult to ignore.
For that reason, Forebet predicts that Nurnberg will score over 1.5 goals en route to dispatching Paderborn on Friday.