Although Köln are 11th, Heidenheim 1846, who are in the relegation zone, are only five points behind. One win for the hosts would cut the gap and significantly increase the pressure on Köln.
Heidenheim 1846
Over the last five rounds before the holiday break, Heidenheim 1846 even collected more points than Köln – six compared with two. Over this spell only their neighbour in the standings, Werder Bremen, performed as poorly as them. If Frank Schmidt's team had managed to take points in the match against fellow relegation rival St. Pauli, when they played with a man advantage for a long time, they would now be in the relegation play-off places. We should also note that the hosts' productivity increases at home: they average 1.0 goals per match there compared with 0.7 away.
Köln
In fact, Köln's winless streak now stands at six matches. They have even gone two rounds without scoring. Yes, they failed to score against Bayer 04 Leverkusen and Union Berlin – that can happen to any team – but how many chances did they create? Only one big chance in those two matches and 0.75 xG. They mainly need to adjust their finishing: they struck 13 shots at Union Berlin's goal, but only two were on target. Frankly, apart from Leverkusen there was no opponent in that run that the side should not be able to beat.
Heidenheim 1846 vs Köln Prediction
In terms of squad quality, Heidenheim 1846 are not far behind Köln and are capable of scoring at home. However, their average of 2.1 goals conceded per home match suggests that the visitors will also end their drought here. Our prediction is both teams to score.
