FC St. Pauli

Winter moves

SV Darmstadt 98 go into the remaining 16 games without their longstanding captain, Aytac Sulu. The central defender, who arrived at the Böllenfalltor from Austrian club SCR Altach in January 2013 and made 210 competitive appearances for the club, has moved to Samsunspor of the Turkish third division. The Lilies may be without Sulu, but they have recruited centre-back Victor Palsson and forward Sören Bertram. Palsson, who has played ten times for Iceland, came from FC Zürich, while Bertram, who moved through the FCSP youth ranks between 2002 and 2005, arrived from second-division rivals Erzgebirge Aue

Prolific duo

Dirk Schuster's side notched 23 goals in the first half of the season, with more than half coming from just two players. Tobias Kempe and Serdar Dursun both registered six times and nine of those 12 goals were scored on home turf. Dursun has never netted against St. Pauli, but Kempe has already bagged three goals against us, including the decisive strike to seal promotion to the Bundesliga in 2014. The only team the attacking utility player has scored against more often is Sandhausen (four).

Mainstay

Darmstadt goalkeeper Daniel Heuer Fernandes is one of 18 players who have played every minute this season. Despite conceding 33 goals this season, he has demonstrated his ability repeatedly. The 26-year-old has been named in the kicker Sportmagazin Team of the Day four times this term – more than any other keeper in the division. Heuer Fernandes also led the goalkeeping rankings last season with eight inclusions, well ahead of Bielefeld's Stefan Ortega on four.

Little joy from the bench

Markus Kauczinski's substitutions have produced 14 goals in the first 18 matches this season (nine goals, five assists), a tally no other coach can match. In Darmstadt it's a totally different story, however. Dirk Schuster has made 49 of a possible 54 substitutions, but his changes have failed to achieve the desired effect. Just three goals have directly resulted from one of his switches (one goal, two assists).

Like a bat out of Heller

A total of 50 players have topped the 34 km/h mark this season. Bielefeld frontman Andreas Voglsammer is the quickest at 35.1 km/h, and he is the only player to break through the 35 km/h barrier. Darmstadt winger Marcel Heller comes a close second on 34.98 km/h, a speed matched by our very own Dimitrios Diamantakos. Also among the top 50 are Darmstadt full-back Joevin Jones (34.62 km/h) and Sandro Sirigu (34.24 km/h).

Combative Franke

Marcel Franke is the Darmstadt player with the most challenges won this season. The centre-back, who is on loan from Norwich City, has come out on top in 162 of his 242 duels (66.94 per cent), a record bettered by only three players – Cologne's Lasse Sobiech (129 of 171 duels won/75.44 per cent), Hamburg's Léo Lacroix (69 of 95 duels won/72.63 per cent) and Sandhausen's Tim Kister (149 of 214 duels won/69.63 per cent).

Photos: Witters