Holstein Kiel vs 1 FSV Mainz 05 Prediction: Mainz to win and over 2.5 goals

When Mainz 05 travels to Holstein-Stadion for Sunday's Bundesliga match, they will try to keep their undefeated away record. In front of the home fans at MEWA ARENA, Mainz defeated Borussia Dortmund to take a significant scalp. As a result, they moved into the top ten of the Bundesliga rankings, winning three of their last three league games.

On Sunday afternoon, Mainz will have a good opportunity to support their victory when they play Holstein-Stadion on matchday 11. So far this season, Kiel has struggled to maintain their competitiveness in the top division of football. They only managed to win one of the campaign's first ten games. Holstein Kiel enters this game having lost four of their last five games. The most recent of these setbacks happened two weeks ago when Werder Bremen defeated them 1-2 at Weserstadion.

With both of these teams in need of win, who will work for it and show aggression?

In their first-ever Bundesliga season, Kiel has struggled, winning one, drawing two, and losing seven of their ten games. Kiel enters matchday 11 in 17th place, three points out of the relegation playoff slot, as a result of that record. Prior to their much-needed victory over Heidenheim at home, the recently promoted team had only two points from their first eight games. 

In their last game before the international break, Kiel was sadly unable to improve on that outcome.  In their first match following the international break, they will return to Holstein-Stadion, where the home team hopes to win two in a row. Kiel's last encounter with Mainz was in the DFB-Pokal in October 2017, where they lost by a slim margin of 3-2 in extra time.

After winning three, drawing four, and losing three of their ten games, Mainz starts matchday 11 in tenth place. With only one loss in their last five league games (W2, D2), After defeating St. Pauli 3-0 on the road to start that run of games, the Mainz lost 2-0 at home to RB Leipzig.

Following back-to-back league draws, Mainz triumphed over 10-man Borussia Dortmund to get back to winning ways. That outcome, incidentally, was their first Bundesliga home win since they defeated Dortmund again in May.

Despite having a difficult home record, Mainz has had success away from home this season, winning two and drawing two of their four away league games. They are therefore among the three teams that have not yet suffered a Bundesliga away loss this season.

So far this season, Mainz has performed significantly better away from home than at home. It says volumes that they have two victories and two draws in their four away games in the Bundesliga season. They are presently facing one of the division's weakest clubs. In the previous round, the visitors defeated Borussia Dortmund 3-1, which gave them further momentum.

Kiel has dropped four of their last five games across all competitions. In the first 10 rounds of the campaign in the first division of German football, they also lost seven of them.

The odds of 2.31 for an away win are too significant to be ignored especially because Kiel has given up two goals or more in all but one of their ten Bundesliga games this season.