Borussia Monchengladbach take on Hoffenheim in the Bundesliga on Saturday with both sides looking to end the calendar year with a much-needed victory.
Gladbach have slipped down the table to four points behind fourth place, which is where they finished last season, with Hoffenheim just five points clear of the relegation zone.
Match preview
Indeed, having secured qualification to the Champions League knockout stages for the first time in the club's history, Marco Rose will be aware that his side's form must improve if they are to compete in Europe's elite competition once again next season.
The 44-year-old, who has been heavily linked with replacing the departed Lucien Favre as Borussia Dortmund's permanent manager next summer, has overseen three successive score draws in the Bundesliga in recent weeks.
However, while dropping points against Freiburg and Hertha Berlin would have been disappointing, the hugely entertaining 3-3 draw at Eintracht Frankfurt was a very good point for his side in the end, having trailed 3-1 with only minutes remaining.
Lars Stindl had given the visitors the lead in the early exchanges, but Andre Silva's quickfire brace and Aymen Barkok's subsequent strike gave Gladbach a mountain to climb heading into the second half.
However, David Abraham's late dismissal gave them a lifeline, with two injury-time goals from Stindl securing a hat-trick for the midfielder and a crucial point for his side.
Hoffenheim have had a similarly-successful European campaign this season, having topped their Europa League group to qualify for the knockout stages of any European competition for the first time in the club's history.
However, domestically they have hugely disappointed, having won just one of their last 10 matches to slide to 13th place in the league.
Their winless run never really looked like ending against RB Leipzig on Wednesday in a narrow 1-0 defeat, although Sebastian Hoeness may have felt his side did enough to earn a point.
Missing several players through suspension and injury, Hoffenheim battled hard to reduce Leipzig to only three shots on target across the 90 minutes, but they only mustered two themselves.
Hoeness will be hoping for a five-star performance from Andrej Kramaric on Saturday, with the Croatian understandably struggling to recapture his blistering early season form after testing positive for coronavirus and consequently missing several matches.
Borussia Monchengladbach Bundesliga form: LDWDDD
Borussia Monchengladbach form (all competitions): WLDLDD
Hoffenheim Bundesliga form: LDDWLL
Hoffenheim form (all competitions): DDWWLL
Team News
Gladbach remain without winger Jonas Hofmann, who tore a muscle on international duty with Germany last month.
Ramy Bensebaini continues to be unavailable due to coronavirus, with Rocco Reitz and Patrick Herrmann both missing through injury.
Hoffenheim remain without Kostas Stafylidis, Benjamin Hubner, Ermin Bicakcic, Jacob Bruun Larsen and Pavel Kaderabek through injury.
Hoeness will at least welcome Florian Grillitsch, Stefan Posch and Dennis Geiger back to the side, though, after the trio's recent dismissals.
Borussia Monchengladbach possible starting lineup:
Sommer; Lainer, Ginter, Elvedi, Wendt; Kramer, Neuhaus; Plea, Stindl, Thuram; Embolo
Hoffenheim possible starting lineup:
Baumann; Posch, Vogt, Nordtveit, Sessegnon; Geiger, Samassekou, Grillitsch, Baumgartner; Bebou, Kramaric
We say: Borussia Monchengladbach 2-1 Hoffenheim
We expect Gladbach to have a little too much firepower for the visitors and wrap up a successful 2020 with a crucial victory.
With both sides scoring and conceding close to two goals per game, it should certainly be an open encounter between two sides who are fast in transition.
