The race for promotion back to the Bundesliga is heating up as the Bundesliga 2 approaches the second half of the season. Fortuna Dusseldorf and Paderborn are tied on points ahead of this clash and looking at the style of play of both teams, this should be a close contest but Dusseldorf has a stronger team and can steal a win.

Fortuna Dusseldorf performed better than Paderborn in the first half of the season. The home team were on a terrible run of five games without a victory with most of those games ending in defeats. A minor drop in form has seen both teams level on results with the same number of wins, draws, and losses.

Daniel Thioune's Düsseldorf got some weight off their shoulders with a 3-2 win at home to Magdeburg last week. They ended their run of three games without a win although they cannot be faulted for the teams they faced which includes Borussia Dortmund from the Bundesliga. Florian Kastenmeier is staying back with the team which is good news for Düsseldorf as he is one of their best performers this year.

Paderborn is yet to face a very tough test like Fortuna Dusseldorf since after the World Cup break. They have played fairly easy fixtures recently and would be facing a team that has already beaten them this season. Paderborn has overseen just one victory in their last nine games, losing to relegation teams like Arminia Bielefeld.

Lukas Kwasniok's team might drop to the bottom half of the table at this rate. Five out of their last nine appearances in all competitions have ended in defeats with their latest being a 2-1 loss at home to VfB Stuttgart. Paderborn's last home win at the Home Deluxe Arena was three months ago and they have failed to win any of their last five home games.

Fortuna Dusseldorf outplayed Paderborn in the league this season despite Paderborn having better results then. With a slump in form for the hosts, Fortuna Dusseldorf's chances of a second consecutive win against Paderborn is very high although they can hang on for a point to keep up with the qualification race.

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随着德甲联赛下半赛季的临近，升入德甲的竞争正在白热化。杜塞尔多夫和帕德伯恩在这场比赛前积分相等，看看两支球队的比赛风格，这应该是一场势均力敌的比赛，但杜塞尔多夫有一支更强大的球队，可以偷走一场胜利。

杜塞尔多夫在前半赛季的表现比帕德伯恩要好。主队经历了一场糟糕的五场比赛，其中大部分比赛都以失败告终。两支球队的状态略有下降，双方的胜、平、负数持平。

丹尼尔·蒂翁的Düsseldorf在上周主场3-2战胜马格德堡的比赛中减轻了一些压力。他们结束了三场比赛一胜未负的局面，尽管他们面对的对手包括德甲的多特蒙德。Florian Kastenmeier将留在车队，这对Düsseldorf来说是个好消息，因为他是车队今年表现最好的球员之一。

自从世界杯休息后，帕德博恩还没有面临像杜塞尔多夫一样非常艰难的考验。他们最近的比赛相当轻松，他们将面对一支本赛季已经击败过他们的球队。帕德伯恩在过去的9场比赛中只取得了一场胜利，输给了比勒费尔德等降级球队。

按照这个速度，卢卡斯·克瓦斯尼克的球队可能会跌到积分榜的下半部分。他们最近9次在各项赛事中出场，有5次以失败告终，最近一次是在主场1 - 2负于斯图加特。帕德伯恩上一次在豪华主场获胜是在三个月前，他们在过去的五场主场比赛中没有赢过任何一场。

杜塞尔多夫在本赛季的联赛中击败了帕德博恩，尽管当时帕德博恩的成绩更好。在东道主状态低迷的情况下，杜塞尔多夫队在对阵帕德博恩的比赛中取得两连胜的几率非常高，尽管他们可以保住一分来跟上晋级的步伐。