After being named as Eugen Polanski's successor, Alexander Blessin experienced a disappointing start to life as Gladbach boss, seeing his side fall to 2-1 defeats against FC Köln and Hoffenheim. Fortunately for Blessin, it proved to be third time lucky as Gladbach ended their long wait for their first Bundesliga points of the season in their recent away clash with Stuttgart on matchday seven. Joe Scally, Shūto Machino and Wael Mohya all got on the scoresheet as die Fohlen claimed a vital 3-2 win, although it was not enough to move them off the bottom of the table.
Gladbach backed up that long-awaited win with another successful outing in their midweek DFB-Pokal tie against Karlsruhe. Despite playing over a half with ten men, Blessin's charges recorded a 2-0 victory over the second-tier side, thanks to goals from Robin Hack and Lukas Ullrich.
After winning at Borussia-Park in the cup, Gladbach will now attempt to win a home game in the league for the first time this season. Die Fohlen have prevailed by a 2-0 scoreline in both of their last two home meetings with Paderborn, although the most recent of those victories took place nearly seven years ago in December 2019.
Midfielder Hugo Brolin has been ruled out due to a muscular issue. The home side are also without the services of Jan Leszczyński, Kevin Diks, Enzo Leopold, Franck Honorat, Fritz Fleck and Tim Kleindienst.
In positive news, Moritz Nicolas, Daiki Hashioka, Isac Lidberg and Nicolas Kühn have been passed fit ahead of Saturday's fixture.
Click here to see Gladbach's predicted starting lineup.
Competing in the top flight for the first time since 2019/20, Paderborn are sitting in 13th spot in the standings after winning two, drawing two and losing three of their seven Bundesliga matches this term. They claimed the second of those two victories in their most recent Bundesliga outing against Hamburger SV. Rayan Philippe netted an 88th-minute winner to fire Paderborn to a 1-0 win at the Home Deluxe Arena.
However, they came out on the wrong side of a late goal in Wednesday's DFB-Pokal clash against Stuttgart. Paderborn played over a half with 10 players following Laurin Curda's 37th-minute red card, and just as they looked set to take the tie to extra time, Deniz Undav scored in the 90th minute to condemn Ralf Kettemann's side to a second-round exit.
The Paderborn boss will have to quickly lift his side as they go in search of their first Bundesliga away win of the season. However, that will be easier said than done, considering Paderborn are yet to beat Gladbach in a competitive game after drawing one and losing five of their previous six meetings.
The visitors are unable to call upon Nyamekye Awortwie-Grant, Marcel Hoffmeier, Oliver Batista Meier and Timur Gayret. There are also doubts surrounding the availability of Gabriel Vidović and Sven Michel.
