ETB Schwarz-Weiß Essen, currently third in the table, welcomes the 14th-placed team in the Oberliga Niederrhein. The visitors from the Ruhr region will be without six players.

ETB Schwarz-Weiß Essen is among the frontrunners in the Oberliga Niederrhein and wants to improve its good position on Sunday against 1. FC Kleve.

After the home win against Ratingen, Damian Apfeld’s successor Julian Stöhr followed up with a 2-2 draw in the top match at SC St. Tönis. Now the ETB coach is aiming for the next home win.

The two teams have already met once this season, when ETB traveled to Kleve in the second round of the Niederrhein Cup. Goals from Niko Bosnjak and Felix Geisler gave Essen a 2-0 win in the Schwanenstadt.

“I expect a completely different game on Sunday than we saw against Ratingen and St. Tönis. We’ll probably have more possession, as Kleve has always relied on quick transitions in recent games. They are very solid at the back, so we’ll need to be patient. That was evident in their results in recent weeks, where they beat Ratingen and drew 0-0 against Schonnebeck. Their position in the table and the number of points they have are somewhat misleading. They are very robust, so we’ll have to find the gaps first, but also watch out for their counterattacks. We want to win on Sunday, that should be our goal. We want to win our second home game in a row and then go into the break and the top game against Schonnebeck with a good feeling,” explains Stöhr.

The ETB coach will have to do without Nico Lucas, Jan Corsten, Armen Shavershyan, Florian Usein, Christian Gojani, and Denzel Oteng Adjei due to injury.

After the game against Kleve, ETB has two weeks off due to All Souls’ Day. Then it’s time for the top match and Essen city derby at Spielvereinigung Schonnebeck on Sunday, December 1, at 3 p.m. Before the winter break, ETB will face Kleve and Schonnebeck, as well as VfB Homberg and TVD Velbert – both games will take place at home at the Uhlenkrug.