SC Paderborn vs Hoffenheim - prediction, team news, lineups

SC Paderborn 07 host TSG 1899 Hoffenheim in the Bundesliga at the Home Deluxe Arena on Sunday.

Ralf Kettemann's newly promoted side have taken one point from their opening three matches and are yet to score a Bundesliga goal this season, while Christian Ilzer's Hoffenheim arrive on the back of a shock 2-0 Europa League defeat away to OFI Crete.

Sunday's meeting is the first between the two clubs in the top flight since a 1-1 draw at the same ground in May 2020, a match played behind closed doors amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

Paderborn's return to the Bundesliga after a six-year absence has so far brought plenty of promise but no product, with Kettemann's side registering 33 attempts across their opening three league games without finding the net once.

The campaign began with a goalless draw away at Mainz, a workmanlike point that was followed by a narrow 1-0 home defeat to Freiburg in Paderborn's first Bundesliga fixture at the Home Deluxe Arena in over six years.

Their sternest examination arrived at Signal Iduna Park last weekend, where Borussia Dortmund ran out 3-0 winners courtesy of a Fabio Silva opener and a late Felix Nmecha brace.

That result leaves Paderborn's wait for a top-flight win stretching back 18 matches to January 2020, and they remain one of only two Bundesliga sides yet to open their scoring account this season.

Kettemann, who led Paderborn to promotion in his first season as a professional head coach via a 2-1 aggregate play-off win over Wolfsburg in May, is now trying to keep the club in the Bundesliga for only the third time in its history.

Sunday represents a chance to end a lengthy scoring drought against a Hoffenheim side that arrive at the Home Deluxe Arena on short rest following Thursday's European exertions in Crete.

Hoffenheim head into Sunday's fixture still absorbing the disappointment of Thursday's 2-0 Europa League defeat at OFI Crete, a result that halted the momentum built by their first league win of the season.

Ilzer's side opened the Bundesliga campaign with a 3-2 defeat at Cologne, twice taking the lead through Adam Daghim and Ozan Kabak before a late Thijs Dallinga brace turned the game in the hosts' favour.

A more painful collapse followed at home to Borussia Dortmund, Hoffenheim leading 2-0 through Leon Avdullahu and Tim Lemperle before conceding three times in the last half hour, including an 86th-minute Albian Hajdari own goal, to lose 3-2.

Adam Hlozek finally turned Hoffenheim's season around with a brace in a 2-1 win over Stuttgart last Saturday at the SNP Arena, his first Bundesliga goals since May 2025 and the third double of his career in the competition.

That victory arrived after a difficult start for a club that finished fifth in the Bundesliga in 2025-26, the second-best points tally in Hoffenheim's history and a return that secured Europa League qualification.

Captain Oliver Baumann admitted after the loss in Crete that the home side simply wanted it more, a comment that hints at the mental reset required before Sunday's trip north.

With just three days separating the two fixtures, rotation is likely to feature heavily in Ilzer's selection, with Andrej Kramaric and Fisnik Asllani among the attacking options who could come into the side.

Nyamekye Awortwie-Grant remains out with a knee injury, while Timur Gayret continues his recovery from a torn anterior cruciate ligament sustained before his summer move from Verl and is not expected back until the new year.

Lasse Eickel is back in individual training but has not yet rejoined full team sessions, and Sven Michel and Marcel Hoffmeier both remain unavailable as Paderborn wait for further squad depth to return.

The best news for Kettemann is that Laurin Curda has overcome the muscular problem that forced him off against Dortmund and returned to full training on Thursday, meaning Paderborn go into the game with no fresh fitness concerns.

Hoffenheim's fitness picture has improved since a scare earlier in the week, with Alexander Prass returning to the squad for Thursday's trip to Crete after being touched with a muscular problem.

Bambase Conte and Adam Daghim were both rested for the Europa League defeat and are expected to return to Ilzer's starting eleven at the Home Deluxe Arena.

Hoffenheim otherwise have a clean bill of health heading into Sunday's fixture, giving Ilzer a full complement of options as he manages a squad playing its second match in four days.

Prass's exact fitness remains something of an open question given the conflicting reports earlier in the week, and his involvement should become clearer closer to kick-off.

Noll; Hansen, Scheller, ter Horst; Obermair, Vidovic, Castaneda, Ulrich, Curda; Pieringer, Marino

Baumann; M. Rots, Kabak, Hajdari, Coufal; Daghim, Burger, Avdullahu, Conte; Lemperle, Hlozek

Paderborn's inability to turn possession into goals continues to define their return to the top flight, and even with a fit-again Curda restored to the side, Kettemann's men look short of the cutting edge needed to end an 18-match winless run in the competition.

Hoffenheim's away form and greater squad depth should ultimately tell, even accounting for the short turnaround from Crete, with Hlozek's brace last weekend suggesting Ilzer has found a route through defences that Paderborn's back three may struggle to close down.

A tight, low-scoring away win feels the most probable outcome, with Paderborn's toothless attack likely to again leave them empty-handed at full time.

For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.

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