Match Preview: FC Koln 0-1 Holstein Kiel Prediction and Betting Tips | Bundesliga

FC Koln – Holstein Kiel Prediction and Tips for today, May 26, 2021

FC Koln – Holstein Kiel Match Preview

• A late header from Sebastiaan Bornauw in the final weekend of the regular Bundesliga campaign saved 16th place Cologne from automatic relegation. They now enter this Bundesliga promotion/relegation playoff with history on their side, as ten of the 12 top-flight teams in previous 21st century playoffs have survived.
• This will be Cologne’s first appearance in the Bundesliga’s promotion/relegation playoff, and they should be confident as their last competitive defeat to lower league opposition as a top-flight team dates back to December 2010. More topically, they boast three wins from their previous five Bundesliga matches, keeping a first-half clean sheet each time.
• With the playoff in the last two seasons being settled by away goals, Holstein Kiel know that setting up defensively may achieve nothing. They were thrashed 4-1 on aggregate in their only prior playoff appearance (2018), but will hope to utilise the same tactics that saw them hold Bayern Munich to a DFB-Pokal draw (before a penalty shootout win) in January.
• Kiel fell just short in their quest for the two automatic promotion spots in the Bundesliga 2, losing 3-2 in their final two games after allowing an opposition player to net a second-half brace in each. They’ve also won just once in seven competitive road trips (W1, D2, L4), never once recovering parity when going behind in any of the four defeats, and conceding the opener within 20 minutes three times across those losses.
• Players to watch: Marius Wolf scored a brace inside the first 30 minutes in Cologne’s last handicap-beating home win, while Kiel’s Hauke Wahl will be looking to repeat his heroics in January, when he scored the equaliser vs Bayern in the DFB-Pokal.
• Hot stat: Six of Cologne’s last seven home wins by 2+ goals have seen them score first inside the opening 30 minutes.