Europa: Akpoguma’s Hoffenheim seek to consolidate against Gent

Nigeria international Kevin Akpoguma and his Hoffenheim teammates will be hoping to consolidate in their Group L Europa tie when they face Gent on Thursday.

Coming from a 2-0 defeat of Crevena Zvezda, visiting Hoffenheim look poised to maintain the winning streak.

Akpoguma who recently made his Super Eagles debut against Desert Foxes of Algeria, was in full action for the German Bundesliga side in Zvezda’s defeat even as the 25 year old has been tipped to get a starting shirt against Belgian side Gent.

Gent may not be easy not to crack especially going into the tie from a lone goal loss to Czech Republic side Slovan Liberec.   

After a 2-1 home defeat to Genk in the Belgian Pro League on Monday night, Gent have now lost three consecutive matches in all competitions and will no doubt be in a hurry to stop the slide.

Hoffenheim have had a more stable start to the 2020-21 campaign than their forthcoming opponents, taking seven points from their opening five Bundesliga games to sit in a mid-table position.

 Though Andrej Kramaric’s positive coronavirus test will be a huge blow for the visitors, Manager Sebastian Hoeness is not boxed into a corner especially with inform Munas Dabbur available for selection.

On Gent’s side De Decker will be without attacker Alexandre De Bruyn due to a hamstring injury, but has no other known fitness issues to contend with.

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Former Porto and Huddersfield Town striker Laurent Depoitre missed the defeat to Slovan Liberec, but is likely to return to the starting XI with Gent needing a result.

Gent possible starting lineup:

Roef; Castro-Montes, Ngadeu-Ngadjul, Hanche-Olsen, Fortuna; Bukari, Marreh, Kums, Botaka; Depoitre, Yaremchuk

Hoffenheim possible starting lineup:

Baumann; Posch, Vogt, Akpoguma, Sessegnon; Grillitsch, Rudy, Gacinovic; Baumgartner; Belfodil, Dabbur