POSITION
Promoted to the second division in 2015, relegated to the third division in 2016 and last summer a runaway promotion to Germany's second-tier – MSV Duisburg have become a true yo-yo team over the past few years. It's clear the founding member of the Bundesliga are looking to stay up at any price this season to establish themselves in the second division again. They had a boost last Friday with a surprise 1-0 victory at SV Sandhausen: The team from Duisburg are now twelfth in the table on 16 points and they have gone four games without defeat in the second division.
Personnel
The Zebras have been managed for the past two years by coach Ilia Gruev. Since relegation in 2016, the club management have kept faith in the former Bulgaria international. The 48-year-old repaid that confidence with promotion as champions of the third division and a decent second division campaign to date. Key players in his 4-4-2 system include midfield dynamo Fabian Schnelhardt, who was voted the best player in the third division last season, and new signing Morritz Stoppelkamp. The winger set a Bundesliga record for a goal scored from the longest distance (82.3 metres) when he was at SC Paderborn and since the summer he has been back at his hometown club where he played in the youth teams. Stoppelkamp is currently MSV's top goalscorer with six goals so far this term. Gruev has a former Leverkusen player in central defence: In 2009 Gerrit Nauber won the U17 European Championships as a Bayer 04 player and he went on to be captain of the Leverkusen U19 team and until 2012 he played for the Werkself reserves.
PROBLEMS
One thing stands out if you take a closer look at the second division table: MSV are by far the weakest team at home with no wins on their own turf in the league. However, 13 points from seven away fixtures puts them in a decent position at the moment. Nevertheless, wins on their own ground are essential if Duisburg want to avoid a relegation battle.
POTENTIAL
A founder member of the Bundesliga, then ever-present in the top division until 1982 with a total of 28 seasons in Germany's top flight: MSV Duisburg are currently far away from their previous exploits. The last time they were in the first division was in 2007/8. After a financial meltdown and the resulting force relegation to the third division in 2013, the club is now still endeavouring to consolidate their position. It is unlikely in the near future that they will make any great steps forward but MSV our first looking to re-establish themselves in the second tier to get away from the yo-yo image of recent years.
Prediction
It is difficult to make accurate predictions this season where the second division appears to be very tight. Gruev's team have shown in the past few weeks they have the quality on and off the pitch to be able to stay up. Whether they succeed in the end will depend on MSV getting back to winning ways at home, particularly in matches against direct rivals.
Thursday's match against MSV will be streamed live on bayer04.de and facebook.com/bayer04fussball from 15.00 CET.
