Before their gameweek four meeting at the Vonovia Ruhrstadion on Saturday, VfL Bochum and Holstein Kiel had lost their previous three Bundesliga games.

Both teams have struggled to start the new season; the away team’s first-ever top-flight campaign is not going well, as seen by their 6-1 hammering at the hands of Bayern Munich last weekend. The home squad has been unable to overcome its difficulties from the previous year.

Bochum’s struggles in 2024–25, which included losing three straight games against RB Leipzig, Borussia Monchengladbach, and Freiburg, were evident in their need for a relegation playoff to save their Bundesliga position.

Die Unabsteigbaren have struggled to score goals after three rounds, scoring their single goal in the most recent 2-1 loss against Freiburg, despite having the most productive frontline among the bottom three and the fourth-best offence in the bottom half in 2023–24.

As they head into gameweek four, Peter Zeidler’s team is third from the bottom. They are eager to win their first game of the new season after a poor start to the campaign with three straight losses. The new manager wants to prevent a repeat of last year’s survival struggle.

The 16th-place team in North Rhine-Westphalia, however, needs to improve their performance there. In seven Bundesliga games played since the start of the previous season, they have only once won all seven points in front of their fans, losing four of those games.

Their current struggles come after a run of success when playing at home, during which they lost only once between April 2023 and February 2024 (including an eight-game winning streak that saw them defeat Bayern 3-2 a few months prior).

Despite losing badly when they played Gladbach at the end of August, the Blues intend to defeat their opponents who were promoted.

Kiel, still getting used to their new surroundings, lost 6-1 to Bayern Munich last weekend, showing them what life in the top level may be like. Bayern later scored three more goals to defeat Dinamo Zagreb 9-2 in the Champions League on Tuesday.

Having scored two more goals than Bochum after three gameweeks, Marcel Rapp’s squad is in the second round of the Pokal, in contrast to their opponents who have been eliminated from the domestic cup and are struggling in front of goal.

In their second travel game of the campaign, the rookies nevertheless aim to move past their depressing home loss to the Bavarian giants.

Die Storche, despite playing in the second division, were the best away team throughout their promotion season. They only lost twice when travelling, and on the first day of play, they demonstrated that they could compete on the road by narrowly defeating Hoffenheim 3-2.

This weekend, the new lads want to secure their first Bundesliga win at the fourth attempt, following their two consecutive losses in front of their fans against Wolfsburg (2-0) and Bayern (6-1).

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Although the attacker has yet to open his account this season and might settle for a bench duty for the hosts, Philipp Hofmann was Bochum’s hero in the relegation playoff last season when he scored twice in the rematch to force extra time.

Zeidler’s defensive options are limited as a result of the home team’s anticipated absence of Ivan Ordets (shoulder) and Bernardo (knee).

In gameweek four, the visiting team will rely on senior Lewis Holtby and experienced Benedikt Pichler to perform well because Steven Skrzybski, Kiel’s top scorer from the previous season, is out with a calf.

Alexander Bernhardsson is suffering from a knock, and Andu Yobel Kelati and Colin Noah Kleine-Bekel may also be forced to miss time due to knee problems, joining Skrzybski on the sidelines.

VfL Bochum possible starting lineup:
Drewes; Passlack, Medic, Masovic, Wittek; Miyoshi, Sissoko, Bero; De Wit; Broschinski, Boadu

Holstein Kiel possible starting lineup:
Weiner; Becker, Johansson, Erras, Javorcek; Porath, Knudsen, Remberg, Holtby; Pichler, Machino

We say: VfL Bochum 2-1 Holstein Kiel

Although Bochum is expected to face unimpressive opponents in Kiel, the newcomers are hoping that their experience on the road under Rapp will help them in North Rhine-Westphalia.

Although the result on Saturday can be a score draw, we are betting on the home team to narrowly defeat the promoted team in order to earn their first points of the year.