FC Koln will play host to Union Berlin at the RheinEnergieStadion on Sunday with both teams lookin to maintain their unbeaten starts to the 2022-23 season
Union Berlin find themselves two points ahead of their forthcoming opponents heading into the weekend’s contest, having won one match more.
Having drawn three consecutive league matches, Koln defeated Wolfsburg 4-2 away from home last weekend, extending their league unbeaten run to five games.
Meanwhile, they secured a 1-1 draw away to Nice in the Europa Conference League on Thursday, putting themselves in a strong position to progress from Group D, which also consists Partizan and FC Slovacko.
Steffen Baumgart will be aware that Sunday’s test against Union Berlin may be their most difficult one of the season yet, given that their forthcoming opponents are unbeaten as well, but he will feel confident of avoiding defeat once again at the very least.
Meanwhile, Union Berlin held Bayern Munich to a 1-1 draw at Stadion An der Forsterei last weekend, maintaining their unbeaten record in the process.
Sheraldo Becker gave the hosts a 12th-minute lead, matching his best Bundesliga goalscoring tally in a season already with five goals in five matches, before Joshua Kimmich levelled the proceeding three minutes later with a deflection effort.
Both sides pushed for a winner but would eventually settle for a point each, with Union Berlin heading into the weekend in a Champions League qualification spot having only missed out on fourth by a single point last season.
As a result, they qualified for the Europa League instead, but saw their campaign kick off with a disappointing 1-0 defeat to Union Saint-Gilloise on Thursday, with Sven Michel incorporating his teammates’ collective frustration by receiving a straight red card in injury time. However, Fischer will hope recovers from that defeat in Cologne on Sunday.
FC Koln vs Union Berlin head to head
These two teams have previously met on 15 occasions across all competitions, where Koln have claimed six victories while Union have won seven, and they have drawn in two. Union have scored 18 goals and conceded 27. In their last five meetings, Union have won three, Koln one with one draw.
FC Cologne 2-1 Union Berlin 22/08/20
FC Cologne 1-2 Union Berlin 22/11/20
Union Berlin 2-1 FC Cologne 13/03/21
FC Cologne 2-2 Union Berlin 07/11/21
Union Berlin 1-0 FC Cologne 01/04/22
FC Koln latest home form
FC Koln have recently been on a relatively good run of form at home, having lost just one of their four most recent matches. They drew 0-0 with Stuttgart in their last home game in the league. In their last five matches, they have scored 10 goals and conceded five.
FC Cologne 1-2 AC Milan 16/07/22
FC Cologne 5-0 NEC 22/07/22
FC Cologne 3-1 Schalke 04 07/08/22
FC Cologne 1-2 Fehervar 18/08/22
FC Cologne 0-0 Stuttgart 28/08/22
FC Koln latest away form
FC Koln have recently been on a relatively good run of form on the road, having been unbeaten in their five most recent matches. They drew 1-1 with Nice in their last away game in the Europa Conference League. In their last five matches, they have scored 10 goals and conceded six.
RB Leipzig 2-2 FC Cologne 13/08/22
Eintracht Frankfurt 1-1 FC Cologne 21/08/22
Fehervar 0-3 FC Cologne 25/08/22
Wolfsburg 2-4 FC Cologne 03/09/22
Nice 1-1 FC Cologne 08/09/22
Union Berlin latest home form
Union Berlin lost 1-0 to Union Saint-Gilloise in their last home game in the Europa Conference League. However, they have recently been on a good run of form at home, having been unbeaten in their previous 11 matches. In their last five matches, they have scored seven goals and conceded five.
Union Berlin 3-1 Hertha Berlin 06/08/22
Union Berlin 1-1 Hannover 96 09/08/22
Union Berlin 2-1 RB Leipzig 20/08/22
Union Berlin 1-1 Bayern Munich 03/09/22
Union Berlin 0-1 Union Saint-Gilloise 08/09/22
Union Berlin latest away form
Union Berlin have recently been on a relatively good run of form on the road, having been unbeaten in their four most recent matches. They defeated Schalke 04 6-1 in their last away game in the league. In their last five matches, they have scored 11 goals and conceded six.
Eintracht Braunschweig 1-0 Union Berlin 06/07/22
Udinese 3-3 Union Berlin 16/07/22
Chemnitzer FC 1-2 (E) Union Berlin 01/08/22
Mainz 0-0 Union Berlin 14/08/22
Schalke 04 1-6 Union Berlin 27/08/22
FC Koln news
Baumgart may have limited ability to rotate his lineup due to several injuries, with Sebastian Andersson, Mark Uth, Dimitrios Limnios, Mathias Olesen, Benno Schmitz and Julian Chabot all sidelined.
Steffen Tigges opened his account for the club against Nice and will hope to score his first in Bundesliga on Sunday.
Union Berlin news
Julian Ryerson, Janik Haberer and Morten Thorsby should be restored to the Union Berlin starting XI, while Jordan Siebatcheu remains a doubt having missed the last two games due to a muscle strain.
Should Siebatcheu miss out for the visitors, Kevin Behrens is likely to continue alongside Sheraldo Becher up front.
Prediction and Odds
These two teams will be competing in Europe on Thursday and will unlikely want to lose their unbeaten starts to the domestic campaign.
Both sides prefer to counter attack, which may lead to a tricky affair at RheinEnergieStadion, and a share of the spoils is the most likely outcome to expect.
Odds: 1 2.28 X 2.05 2 2.20
Probable outcomes
FC Cologne 0-0 Union Berlin
FC Cologne 1-1 Union Berlin
FC Cologne 2-2 Union Berlin
FC Cologne 3-3 Union Berlin
FC Cologne 1-2 Union Berlin
