FC St. Pauli

It's been a turbulent five weeks at the club since the 4-0 defeat in the Hamburg derby. From a footballing point of view, the recent period has not gone to plan at all. A single point from four games is a meagre return by any standard. The derby reverse was followed by a 4-0 drubbing at Sandhausen, a scoreless draw against Duisburg at the Millerntor and a 2-1 defeat at Kiel that came about despite taking the lead and being a man to the good for 47 minutes. Put simply, the Boys in Brown have squandered several opportunities to manoeuvre themselves into a better position in the promotion race, sliding down the table to sixth as a result.

This week club officials took the decision to relieve director of sport Uwe Stöver and head coach Markus Kauczinski of their duties and promptly announced the appointment of Jos Luhukay as Kauczinski's successor. The Dutchman, who has secured promotion to the Bundesliga with three different clubs – Borussia Mönchengladbach in 2008, FC Augsburg in 2011 and Hertha BSC in 2013 – has had just three days to get to know his new team and prepare them for the visit of Arminia.

Luhukay has been keeping track of his new team's fortunes this term, however. "I was very impressed by the way the lads performed in the first half of the season," he said at his unveiling on Thursday. The 55-year-old now hopes to replicate that form in the remaining six games, a task that begins with Sunday's home fixture against Arminia. "We're up against a strong team in Bielefeld," he said. "They've had a great year so far."

Expressed in figures, only FC Cologne (22) have collected more points than Bielefeld (20) in 2019. Things could hardly have gone any better for the club since Uwe Neuhaus replaced Jeff Saibene as head coach in mid-December. Their form curve has shown a steady rise in the last few months, with striker Fabian Klos finding the net eight times in the last ten games to help his side fend off the threat of relegation to all intents and purposes, even though it is still possible mathematically. A win at the Millerntor would see Arminia pass the ominous 40-point mark that is normally considered a guarantee of safety.

The task for the Boys in Brown on Sunday will be to bring the Bielefeld express to a halt and get back on track themselves. But if they are to achieve the turnaround and claim their 300^th win since the second tier of German football was reduced to a single division in 1981, they will have to go to the limit. Luhukay adopted a positive tone in the run-up, saying: "It's an attractive challenge for my players because they can show what they're capable of right away."

Photos: Witters