Our next opponents: With desire and passion in the fight to stay up

Position

‘Schaffa, schaffa, drenna bleiba’ (work, work, stay up) - was the motto when 1. FC Heidenheim 1846 celebrated avoiding relegation in last season’s play-off. Thanks to Leo Scienza's goal in the fifth minute of stoppage time that secured a 2-1 win at SV Elversberg, the club from the eastern Swabian Alb is now in the third season in the Bundesliga. It was clear to all Heidenheim players from the outset that it would be another uphill struggle. Even without competing in Europe and without the double burden of UEFA Conference League and Bundesliga, as was the case last season, they looked likely to once again be among the relegation candidates. That's why captain Patrick Mainka announced the slogan ‘Staying up sensation’, which says a lot about Heidenheim's self-image and sense of reality. They can feel that after the first nine matches. FCH are bottom of the table. Coach Frank Schmidt's team has only won one match so far. In addition to the 2-1 home win against FC Augsburg, FCH also drew twice at home: 2-2 with Werder Bremen and 1-1 with Eintracht Frankfurt last weekend.

For the first time in six attempts, they did not lose against Eintracht Frankfurt. Budu Zivzivadze gave the hosts the lead after an assist from Arijon Ibrahimovic, but Eintracht equalised shortly after the break through Rasmus Kristensen. "If Marvin Pieringer hadn't been offside when we made it 2-1 in stoppage time, we would now be above the play-off position," said Schmidt after his team's courageous performance. FCH would now have seven points instead of five and be in 14th place. "And that's the decisive factor in why the gap is as it is now," emphasised the FCH coach. Then anything is possible.

The teams in the bottom half of the table are still tightly bunched together. For an underdog like Heidenheim, this is a situation they can live with. Because there is one thing you have to know, according to Schmidt: "If things don't get exciting for us this season, we'll be relegated." So they want to keep the tension high and squirrel away the points one by one. Perhaps away from home for a change. Up to now they have lost four games away from Voith Arena. Now it's off to Leverkusen. The record against the Werkself also looks bleak: four games, four defeats. It is fair to say FCH will try everything on Saturday to end two negative runs.

Personnel

Frank Schmidt will have to manage without the long-term injured players Leart Pacarada, Frank Feller and Sirlord Conteh as well as striker Mikkel Kaufmann at the BayArena. Left-back Pacarada, who joined Heidenheim from FC Köln in the summer, suffered a torn cruciate in the 2-0 defeat at home to Borussia Dortmund. Reserve keeper Feller suffered a torn collateral ligament during the training camp in South Tyrol and forward Conteh is sidelined with a torn meniscus. Striker Mikkel Kaufmann is ruled out due to adductor problems.

Overall, however, the injury situation at FCH has eased of late, particularly up front. Marvin Pieringer is back in the team after a long lay-off. Mathias Honsak and Budu Zivzivadse are also available again. "We now have completely different options again in terms of physicality, presence and experience," said a delighted Frank Schmidt. "As a coach, I now have to think again about who I play in the first half and who has to stay on the bench for now. Or: Who doesn't make the squad? Things have been easy recently in the sense that the team has picked itself."

In defence, Schmidt will rely on goalkeeper Diant Ramaj and the experienced centre-backs Patrick Mainka, Tim Siersleben and Benedikt Gimber. As against Eintracht Frankfurt, Jonas Föhrenbach and Marnon Busch could start at full-back. Omar Traoré would be available as an alternative. Julian Niehues and Jan Schöppner have recently provided the necessary stability in the centre of midfield. New signing Arijon Ibrahimovic has quickly established himself as a regular starter on the right or left flank. The 19-year-old is on loan from Bayern Munich and he played for Lazio until this summer. Ibrahimovic has started all nine league games this season. In attack, Schmidt is once again likely to rely on Budu Zivzivadze and Stefan Schimmer. The latter has been at FCH for six years. The classic penalty-area striker is a man for the key goals and has earned the nickname of the ‘Bomber’ amongst his team-mates.

Problems

They have yet to keep a clean sheet. FCH have conceded at least one goal in each of their eleven matches this season. However, the team from Heidenheim have not suffered any really heavy defeats to date. Most of them were narrow losses - such as the recent 1-0 reverse in the DFB Pokal against Hamburg SV, who won through a highly controversial penalty shortly before the end of the game. However, Heidenheim did not create many chances in the DFB Pokal tie either. In the league, Schmidt's team has only scored eight times so far, making it the third-worst attack. It is significant that Stefan Schimmer, who has mostly come on as a substitute, is the team's top scorer so far with two goals. The coach sees room for improvement in the team's set-pieces in particular: "We have to stick at it to get a result in our favour."

Performers

Especially in the first half against Eintracht Frankfurt, Heidenheim once again showed what made them so strong in their first Bundesliga season: The desire to run, a strong physical presence, and many duels won. Before the match, Frank Schmidt demanded "more courage and determination" from his players. And they stuck to their coach's orders. They took the initiative, played as a cohesive unit and repeatedly put Eintracht under pressure from the flanks. FCH played a lot of long balls over the top and took a deserved lead after a straightforward and well-finished attack. And Heidenheim gave little away at the back thanks to some smart defending. "With our attitude and the way we play football, I think we can get something out of the games coming up," said Schmidt with confidence after the point against Eintracht Frankfurt.