FC St. Pauli

Draw specialists

The Boys in Brown have won 1-0 four times this season, and they are not the only team to have a favourite result. Braunschweig have already amassed four 1-1 draws, as well as finishing 2-2 against Düsseldorf on the opening day. Two victories over Heidenheim (2-0) and Greuther Fürth (3‑0) amount to 11 points in total and tenth place for Torsten Lieberknecht's side.

Triple red

The Lions slipped to their first defeat of the season last time out when they went down 2-1 at newly promoted Jahn Regensburg. To make matters worse, not one but three Eintracht players were sent off and are thus suspended on Sunday. Salim Khelifi and Maximilian Sauer saw straight red cards, while Mirko Boland received his marching orders for a second bookable offence just before the end. Overall, Braunschweig have picked up 15 yellow cards this season.

Versatile Baffo

Eintracht run a tight ship at the back, with eight goals against making them the second meanest defence in the league behind Sandhausen (6). One of the reasons for this is the form of the Scandinavian centre-back pairing of Gustav Valsvik and Joseph Baffo, who have won 66 and 68 per cent of their duels respectively. Baffo is also very much a threat up front, having already bagged three goals this term.

Ball shy

Just short of 44 per cent possession on average puts Braunschweig bottom of the second division table in this category. Mirko Boland, who along with fellow midfielder Quirin Moll has been the focal point of their game, has enjoyed the most possession phases. Moll will have a different partner against St. Pauli, however, due to Boland being suspended.

Nine years at the helm

Braunschweig boss Torsten Lieberknecht is the league's second-longest-serving head coach, having been in charge for nine years. Only Frank Schmidt of Heidenheim has managed longer. Since his appointment in 2008, the 44-year-old has guided Eintracht to two promotions and was relegated from the Bundesliga in 2014. Sunday's match against the Boys in Brown will be Lieberknecht's 345^th league fixture at the helm. To date he has averaged 1.52 points per game.

Comeback launch

The head-to-head record for the two sides is relatively evenly matched. St. Pauli have won 14 of the 29 previous meetings, with Eintracht emerging victorious 11 times and four games ending all square. On the last occasion the two teams met the Boys in Brown won 2-1 at Braunschweig to launch an impressive comeback in the second part of the season. After that they lost just two of the last 14 matches.

Photo: DFL