Arminia Bielefeld v St Pauli: Bundesliga 2 betting preview & free tip

7.30pm Monday

Arminia Bielefeld finished last season's Bundesliga 2 campaign in good style, winning their last three matches, and they can get off to a flying start in 2019-20 by winning at home to St Pauli.

Both teams collected 49 points last term, leaving them eight points adrift of automatic promotion and 18 clear of relegation.

But there was a feeling of disappointment for St Pauli, who went into the last ten games in the thick of the promotion race and fell apart, winning one, drawing three and losing six.

The collapse prompted a change of manager with Jos Luhukay replacing Markus Kauczinski.

Luhukay parted company with Sheffield Wednesday last December and few Owls fans were sad to see him go.

His preference for cautious, counter-attacking football did not go down well but he has added a few extra attacking options for St Pauli, signing Ukrainian forward Borys Tashchy from Duisburg and loaning Swedish Under-21 international striker Viktor Gyokeres from Brighton.

However, it may take time for the new arrivals to settle and Arminia should pose a greater goal threat having retained the key elements of a strong attack.

Arminia line up with Fabian Klos and Andreas Voglsammer, who amassed league tallies of 17 and 13 goals last season. But they may have to be patient with new signing Cebio Soukou, who was playing at the Africa Cup of Nations for Benin earlier this month.

Overall Bielefeld appear a shade stronger since the summer break and have a better chance of pushing for promotion than St Pauli, who look mid-table material.

Recommendation
Arminia Bielefeld
1pt 11-8 BoyleSports

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