By Rich

​DSC Arminia Bielefeld rose out of the relegation zone on Friday with a 1:0 victory over visitors SC Freiburg. The game’s lone goal came in the 68th minute, when Bielefeld midfielder Masaya Okugawa picked up a pass from Arne Maier, shot toward the goal, and watched the ball find the net after first deflecting off Freiburg player Baptiste Santamaria. The goal was Bielefeld’s first on home soil since January 23rd, and the club’s first home victory since January 20th, when they defeated Stuttgart 3:0. The victory means that Bielefeld has now won all 4 of their 1. Bundesliga home contests against Freiburg, and the club is now 1 point clear of both Hertha and Mainz going into the rest of the weekend’s matches. With Bayern now almost certain to win the league again this season, attention turns to spots for European competition, and to the ongoing relegation uncertainty at the bottom of the table. Frankfurt will host Wolfsburg on Saturday in a match between two of the league’s top scoring machines. Frankfurt will be looking to maintain its spot in the next season’s Champions League, thanks in part to the 21 season goals of André Silva and the 11 assists of Filip Kostic. Wolfsburg’s Wout Weghorst has 17 goals and 6 assists under his belt this season, and his club’s goal is to keep their top-4 finish and Champions League berth. Wolfsburg have won each of their past 4 visits to Frankfurt, and Weghorst has scored 3 times in 5 meetings with Frankfurt. Also on Saturday, Dortmund desperately needs a win when they travel to Stuttgart. Dortmund are now 7 points behind 4th-place Frankfurt and only 4 points ahead of Stuttgart, and they have only picked up 4 of 18 possible points i their past 6 away games. Stuttgart won the reverse fixture this season 5:1, have lost just 1 of their past 7 league games, and are unbeaten at home in 6 matches. On Sunday, the relegation battle will heat up again when Mainz travel to nearby Cologne. Mainz is currently in the relegation play-off spot, and are just 2 points ahead of 17th-place Cologne. A victory for either club could place them completely out of the relegation zone, depending on the outcome of Saturday’s contest between Hertha and Gladbach. Cologne won the reverse fixture 1:0, but are now on a 7-game winless streak. Mainz are doing much better since Bo Svensson took over as coach 3 months ago, and have won 2 of their last 3 away matches.

By Rich

​Niklas Lomb is a 27-year-old goalkeeper for Bayer 04 Leverkusen. Lomb was born on July 28, 1993 in Cologne, Germany, and spent his youth career playing for SC West Köln and, from 2008 to 2012, Bayer Leverkusen. His senior career continued at Leverkusen, where he made 62 appearances for Bayer Leverkusen II from 2012 to 2014, and 5 appearances for the senior squad since 2012. In 2015, he was loaned to Hallescher FC, from 2015 to 2016 he was loaned to Preußen Münster, and from 2018 to 2019 he was loaned to SV Sandhausen. In 2020, he renewed his contract with Leverkusen.