20:30 – Wolfsburg – Moenchengladbach
Saturday
15:30 Kaiserslautern – Hamburg
15:30 Schalke – Nuernberg
15:30 Koeln – Freiburg
15:30 Hoffenheim – Mainz
15:30 St Pauli – Hannover
18:30 Bayern Munich – Dortmund
Sunday
15:30 Frankfurt – Stuttgart
17:30 Werder Bremen – Bayer Leverkusen
Wolfsburg – Moenchengladbach
Wolfsburg’s 2-1 loss to Freiburg last Saturday marked the 2009 champions’ second consecutive defeat under new coach Pierre Littbarski, and fourth straight overall. Die Woelfe are now seriously fighting to avoid relegation, making their match against table-bottom side Gladbach especially important. Heading into Friday’s match, Littbarski has ruled out Diego Benaglio, Josue, Tolga Cigerci, Alexander Madlung, Thomas Kahlenberg and Grafite.
In their first match under Lucien Favre, Gladbach came back to earn a 2-1 win over Schalke and draw level on points with Stuttgart. Die Fohlen are still far from safety, but could quickly rise up the table if they can gather momentum. As they visit Wolfsburg, Favre’s men will be missing Marc-Andre ter Stegen, Jean-Sebastian Jaures and Karim Matour, who are injured.
Kaiserslautern – Hamburg
Last week’s 3-0 loss to Hannover marked Kaiserslautern’s sixth consecutive game without a win, and left the roten Teufel in the relegation zone. With sleeping giants ahead of them, the promoted side may find it tough to avoid a quick drop back to the 2. Bundesliga. Their next task against a strong Hamburg side will be made all the more difficult in the absence of injured trio Ivo Ilicevic, Jan Simunek and Oliver Kirch.
Hamburg took part in three derbies in little more than a week, and came out victorious in two, raising their table position to seventh place. With Frank Arnesen joining as sporting director in the summer, Rothosen have a bright future on the horizon, but will need to end the year strong in order to qualify for the Europa League. As they visit Kaiserslautern, HSV will be missing Dennis Diekmeier and Romeo Castelen.
Schalke – Nuernberg
After going ahead early against Gladbach, Schalke fell apart last week and lost 2-1 to Gladbach. In the aftermath, Manuel Neuer criticised coach Felix Magath, leaving the goalkeeper’s future in doubt. Die Knappen need a win against Nuernberg on Saturday, but will have to do without an sunfit contingent including Kyriakos Papadopoulos, Christian Pander, Angelos Charisteas, Tim Hoogland, Christoph Moritz, Levan Kenia and Danilo Avelar.
Nuernberg extended their improbable run to four consecutive wins with last Friday’s 3-0 triumph against Frankfurt, effectively eliminating the Bavarians from the relegation fight. Now in mid-table, der Club can hope to finish the season with a good run to give loanee Mehmet Ekici and coveted starlet Ilkay Guendogan a reason not to leave in the summer. Guendogan is not yet fit to make his return, and Mike Frantz and Albert Bunjaku are both unavailable. As well, in-form midfielder Almog Cohen is suspended after picking up his fifth yellow card of the campaign.
Koeln – Freiburg
Koeln were held to a draw last week, but nonetheless remain in good standing with a three-point cushion ahead of the relegation lay-off. Die Geissboecke will hope to secure their spot in the 2011-12 Bundesliga campaign sooner than later, and a win against Freiburg would go a long way towards such an end. Star centre half Pedro Geromel will have to miss out for the next few weeks due to muscular problems, and the Brazilian will be joined by a long list of unavailable players. Petit and Miso Brecko are both suspended, and Kevin McKenna, Christopher Schorch, Adil Chihi, Adam Matuschyk and Slawomir Peszko are unfit.
Talismanic striker Papiss Cisse was back on target for Freiburg last week, as his side earned a 2-1 win against Wolfsburg. Freiburg are still in the running for a Europa League spot, but have the likes of Hamburg and Nuernberg nipping at their heels. Ahead of Saturday’s match, Robin Dutt has ruled out Jan Rosenthal, Jonathan Jaeger, Simon Pouplin, Pavel Krmas, Tommy Bechmann, Julian Schuster and Daniel Williams.
Hoffenheim – Mainz
Hoffenheim missed out on a good chance to move closer to a Europa League berth last week, but have the opportunity to make up for lost ground as they face Mainz, who are direct rivals for a top five position. The village side will be without Tobias Weis, Manuel Gulde, Chinedu Obasi and Edson Braafheid.
Mainz slumped to yet another disappointing defeat last week as they lost 3-0 to Bayern. The once high-flying “oh fives” have nearly a fully fit squad, but are in freefall at the moment. Thomas Tuchel is expected to try new tactics ahead of the Mainz match, but will be unable to make plans for Adam Szalai, who is out for the season.
St Pauli – Hannover
St Pauli’s three-game winning streak came to a halt last week as they lost to Dortmund, but the Buccaneers remain likely candidates to avoid the drop. Heading into Saturday’s clash with Hannover, Holger Stanislawski has called up media man Hauke Brueckner, who could make his debut as a substitute at the age of 30. Markus Thorandt is suspended, and Bastian Oczipka, Fabio Morena, Carsten Rothenbach and Florian Lechner are all lacking fitness and will not participate.
Hannover’s improbable run continued with last week’s 3-0 win against Kaiserslautern, leaving die Roten just a single point behind Bayern in fourth place. As they visit the hostile Millerntor-Stadion, the Saxons will have to manage without talismanic striker Didier Ya Konan, who is struggling with a knee injury. Additionally, Christopher Avevor and Leon Andreasen have been ruled out due to injuries.
Bayern Munich – Dortmund
Bayern got their revenge on Inter on Wednesday in a physically and emotionally draining, but morale boosting match. The Bavarians really have hit peak form as of late, and now will hope to put some pressure on the league leaders on Saturday. Danijel Pranjic is expected to be fit to play, meaning that Ivica Olic will be the only man missing on Saturday.
Things have not gone entirely as planned for Dortmund this spring, but the Ruhr remain well ahead of the competition and remain heavy title favourites. BVB visit Munich with little need for more than a point but have pledged to attack and seek all three to complete a season sweep of the defending champions. Roman Weidenfeller picked up a knee injury in training this week, but is expected to start. Shinji Kagawa, Mohamed Zidan, Sebastian Kehl and Patrick Owomoyela are less fortunate, and will watch from the stands on Saturday.
Frankfurt – Stuttgart
Frankfurt’s crisis continued last Friday as the Adler lost 3-0 to Nuernberg, extending their scoreless streak to six matches. Michael Skibbe’s side has dramatically dropped in the table, and relegation is not far away; his men will face a hungry and potentially dangerous but beatable Stuttgart side on Sunday. Oka Nikolov, Caio, Chris and Zlatan Bajramovic will be unavailable for selection due to injuries.
Stuttgart crashed out of the Europa League on Thursday, after extending their losing streak to four consecutive matches in all competitions. They visit Freiburg while level on points with basement side Gladbach, and will have serious personnel problems this weekend. Ciprian Marica remains suspended by his club, and Cacau and Pavel Pogrebnyak are both injured, meaning that the Schwaben will have few options for the centre forward position. Additionally, Marc Ziegler, Arthur Boka, Christian Gentner, Johan Audel, Mamadou Bah and Philipp Degen are nursing knocks and will miss out.
Werder Bremen – Bayer Leverkusen
Despite last week’s 4-0 collapse to Hamburg in the Nordderby, Bremen sporting director Klaus Allofs has kept his faith in coach Thomas Schaaf and instead blamed his players for their poor performance. With the Hanseaten flirting with relegation, Schaaf will have to tinker with his line-up to find the right combination of willing and capable players. Skipper Torsten Frings is suspended, and a several key figures are unfit: the injury list includes Naldo, Wesley, Felix Kroos, Sebastian Boenisch, Daniel Jensen, Samuel, Christian Vander and Onur Ayik.
Leverkusen have hit peak form over the last few weeks, following a 6-0 aggregate Europa League win over Metalist and domestic victories against Frankfurt and Stuttgart. Die Werkself remain second and will be keen to hold onto their position, which is the last that allows for automatic qualification for the Champions League. As his team visits Bremen, Jupp Heynckes will be missing only Fabian Giefer and Tranquillo Barnetta.
