David Wagner: Give absolutely everything

“Mainz is the club that I effectively became a professional player at,” explains the 48-year-old, who made 98 competitive appearances for the Zerofivers during his playing career. Wagner also knows several people still at the club, commenting “playing in Mainz is something special to me.”

Kenny fit, Serdar ruled out

Wagner has Jonjoe Kenny available again after the right-back was recently out with an ankle injury. Suat Serdar, however, will not make the trip to face his former side, due to his ankle issues. “We are thinking about how we can replace him in the side and hope that he will be fit again for next week,” said the S04 head coach.

It is not yet known whether Ozan Kabak, who was taken off injured against Paderborn, will be able to feature on Sunday. The management team does not want to take any risks regarding the 19-year-old, although Wagner wouldn’t rule out the Turkish defender’s chances of playing in Mainz. A final decision will be made after the last two training sessions. Markus Schubert will probably miss out due to his patellar tendon injury, having only rejoined training yesterday. Long-term absentees Benjamin Stambouli (foot), Salif Sané (knee) and Daniel Caligiuri (ligament) all remain on the sidelines.

Play well and get a good result

Looking back on the 1-1 draw with Paderborn, the Royal Blues’ coach stated that his side failed to perform in the first half, but invested all they could after the break to try and win the game. “We obviously wanted to take all three points against Paderborn,” said Wagner. “The Mainz game isn’t any more important than other matches though.”

When asked about the upcoming opponents, the ex-Mainz player stated “they are good at the back as well as up front. It’s always a tough and tight game in Mainz. We will have to give absolutely everything. If we do, then I think we have a good chance of getting a good result.”