Augsburg vs Union Berlin Predictions

• Augsburg have only lost two of their last 10 Bundesliga home games – against top two clubs Leverkusen and Bayern Munich
• Union Berlin have lost nine of their 14 away league games this season
• Union, who have lost on their last three visits to Augsburg, are without two key players through suspensions

Europe took its toll on Union

Augsburg are solid enough at home to ensure Union Berlin’s trip to Bavaria on Friday is a fruitless one.

The Iron Ones were weighed down by the heavy lifting required in their first-ever Champions League campaign earlier this season and Nenad Bjelica’s team are still to fully recover.

They picked up their first Bundesliga away win since August against Hoffenheim in mid-February, but subsequently failed to score in a road defeat at third-placed Stuttgart and a 0-0 draw at sixth-placed Eintracht Frankfurt.

Augsburg can outgun their weakened visitors

Union might struggle to score against an Augsburg side that have not yet given up the ghost in terms of their own European ambitions. Last weekend’s 3-1 defeat at Hoffenheim was a blow, but Jess Thorup’s charges are still only six points behind a hot-and-cold Frankfurt side and could still finish in the top six.

Augsburg have won five, drawn six and lost only three at home this season with two of those losses coming against the top two in the Bundesliga. They beat Freiburg and Heidenheim, who are both several points clear of Union in the standings, at WWK Arena recently and have had the upper hand in recent clashes with the Berlin club.

The hosts should be able to shake off last week’s loss to Hoffenheim and record a win by a slender margin against a Union side shorn of two star players, top-scorer Robin Gosens and midfielder Lucas Tousart, because of suspension.