In this week 18 match on Jan 28th, Mainz 05 will host Bochum at Opel Arena in a clash of these two evenly matched Bundesliga teams. Weather on match day is looking like a cloudy and cold day, and temperatures reaching a maximum of only 0 degrees, so hopefuly the match makes up for the weather. Mainz 05 sits at 12th place in the tables. In their last match they recorded a 1-1 draw against Stuttgart. Sehrou Guirassy struck first for Stuttgart in the 36th minute on a feed from Wataru Endo, then Marcus Ingvartsen tied it up for Mainz 05 in the 40th minute earning Mainz 05 a comeback draw. Mainz 05 looks to improve on their recent performance, having lost 4 of their last 10, while bochum sits at 14th place in the tables. In their last match they recorded a 3-1 win against Hertha BSC. Philipp Hofmann struck first for Bochum in the 22nd minute on a feed from Philipp Förster, then Keven Schlotterbeck added another in the 44th minute. Bochum is looking for direction having 5 win and 4 losses in their last 10 matches.
Bochum and Mainz 05 last played eachother at the Vonovia Ruhrstadion on Aug 6th. Mainz 05 was victorious by a score of 2 to 1. Karim Onisiwo scored the first goal for Mainz 05 in the 26th minute, then in the 39th minute, Konstantinos Stafylidis sent in a beautiful pass which was converted by Kevin Stöger.
Bochum’s top weapon lately has been Philipp Hofmann, who has three goals in the last 5 matches. Mainz 05’s most prolific scorer has been Marcus Ingvartsen. The Danish attacker has netted two goals over the last five matches
Bo Svensson’s Mainz 05 squad will be without Jonathan Burkardt, Stefan Bell, Delano Burgzorg and Maxim Leitsch, while Konstantinos Stafylidis, Dominique Heintz, Gamboa Luna, Michael Esser and Paul Grave are unavailable to play for Bochum.