Home Bundesliga clash with Arminia Bielefeld
Union back at home:
1. FC Union Berlin will look to pick up an important three Bundesliga points when Arminia Bielefeld come to the Stadion An der Alten Försterei on Saturday at 15:30.
Review: The last match
Three days after the UEFA Europa Conference League loss in Prague, 1. FC Union Berlin put a solid fight to threaten Borussia Dortmund at Signal Iduna Park. Goals in the second half from Max Kruse and Andreas Voglsammer pulled the score back to 2-3 with Union on top in the final period of the match. Borussia Dortmund took a three-goal lead shortly after the restart of the second half with goals in both halves from Raphael Guerreiro, Erling Haaland and an own goal from Marvin Friedrich. Union's character came to the fore and two goals put Marco Rose's team under serious pressure. But Norwegian marksman Haaland finished off a superb lob, a minute or so after Voglsammer's header to put the contest beyond doubt.
Arminia Bielefeld: Opposition Report
Building on a stable first Bundesliga season in nine years, Arminia Bielefeld have similarly showed promise in their second successive campaign. Frank Kramer's side drew 0-0 at home to Hoffenheim to keep up their unbeaten start on home turf. Bielefeld drew 1-1 at home to Eintracht Frankfurt, while Kramer's side held Freiburg at the Schüco-Arena. Bielefeld, currently in 13th, went through a window of change as they looked to strengthen their first-team squad ahead of the new campaign. Robin Hack, Florian Krüger, Masaya Okugawa, Bryan Lasme, Patrick Wimmer, Stefanos Kapino, Alessandro Schöpf, Sebastian Vasiliadis and Janni Serra were brought in among others to give Kramer's squad a new look. Last year, on MD7 in the Bundesliga, Union ran out 5-0 winners at the Alte Försterei with goals from Keita Endo, Robert Andrich, Sheraldo Becker, Max Kruse and Cedric Teuchert.
Arminia Bielefeld: The coach's view
"If you look at their games (5 games, 4 draws), they played well. Very compact, always want control. They try to attack high and get balls. Long balls from goalkeeper to target man, it's a weapon via Klos. Very tight game. We need to be patient. 5-0 in the Bundesliga is not normal. Despite that, I hope we'll be prepared. Lots of new players won't know that game. It was one year ago. We've moved on. Bielefeld has stabilised. They've shown that in the last five games," said coach Urs Fischer.
Personnel
Urs Fischer painted a good picture at the pre-match press conference with Christopher Trimmel training well after a knock on Sunday. Max Kruse also trained well following some fitness issues, while Kevin Möhwald is an option for the squad. After picking up an injury in Thursday's training, there is a question mark around the fitness status of Robin Knoche. The final training session will take place on Friday.
Service
Information for fans in attendance in Köpenick can be found here.