Thursday, September 8, 2011

09.09. - 11.09. Bundesliga Preview - Round 5

Friday (20:30 CET)
Augsburg - Bayer Leverkusen

Saturday (15:30 CET)
Bayern Munich - Freiburg (click here to read full preview)
Dortmund - Hertha BSC (click here to read full preview)
Stuttgart - Hannover
Monchengladbach - Kaiserslautern
Mainz - Hoffenheim
Werder Bremen - Hamburg (18:30 CET)

Sunday
Koln - Nurnberg (15:30 CET) 

Wolfsburg - Schalke (17:30 CET)


 



 
Catania Augsburg - Bayer Leverkusen Roma
  • Friday's match is Leverkusen's last test before visiting Chelsea in the Champions League, which will be their first fixture in Europe's greatest competition since 2004.
  • Augsburg are in the Bundesliga for the first time, having finished runners up in the second division last season

TEAM NEWS:

Augsburg
Paul Verhaegh, Torsten Oehrl, and Marcel de Jong are all sidelined with knee ailments, while Marcel Ndjeng will miss out on the action due to an ankle problem. Ex-2. Bundesliga top scorer Michael Thurk
has made himself available as well, though he revealed earlier this week that he is no longer in Jos Luhukay's plans.
Leverkusen
Michal Kadlec is suspended following his red card against Dortmund, and is likely to be replaced by Gonzalo Castro at left-back, with Daniel Schwaab filling in on the right. Long-term absentees Rene Adler and Bastian Oczipka remain injured, and Fabian Giefer, Tranquillo Barnetta, and newcomer Michael Ortega are also sidelined with knocks.

Warm-up | Leverkusen prepare for Tuesday's clash with Chelsea as they visit Augsburg



Juventus Stuttgart - Hannover Lecce
  • Stuttgart have earned just four points in as many matches, but have the joint fourth-best defensive record in the Bundesliga, having conceded just three times.
  • The last four fixtures between Stuttgart and Hannover have been won by the host team.

  • Hannover are the only remaining undefeated team in the Bundesliga.
TEAM NEWS:
Stuttgart
Bruno Labbadia will have the majority of his first-choice starting line-up available, but nonetheless has a lengthy list of casualties. Johan Audel, Julian Schieber, Mahamadou Bah, Ermin Bikakcic, Matthieu Delpierre, Georg Niedermeier, and Patrick Bauer ar all either sidelined with injuries or in the midst of rehabilitation.

Hannover
Reserve goalkeeper Markus Miller has been allowed to leave the Stuttgart side as he recovers from mental exhaustion. Also unavailable for Mirko Slomka are long-term casualties Leon Andreasen and Carlitos, as well as newcomer Artur Sobiech.

Roma Monchengladbach - Kaiserslautern Fiorentina

  • Kaiserslautern's Kevin Trapp is currently the starting goalkeeper for Germany's U21 side; Gladbach No. 1 Marc-Andre Ter Stegen plies his trade for the U19s.
  • After gaining promotion to the first tier in the spring of 2010, Kaiserslautern won both their fixtures against Gladbach.
 Catania Mainz - Hoffenheim Brescia
  • Mainz have been hit-or-miss at home since being promoted to the Bundesliga in 2009. Their record stands at 18 wins, 10 losses, and eight draws.
  • Hoffe top scorer Sejad Salihovic has found the net three times this year, but will miss out on the action after sustaining a knee injury whilst on international duty.
Rivalry resumes | The famous Nordderby between Bremen and HSV kicks off late on Saturday

Cesena Werder Bremen - Hamburg
 
  • Bremen have a slight lead over HSV in the Nordderby, having won 50 matches to their opponents' 48. The two have drawn in 41 matches as well.
  • Werder's 6-0 rout of Hamburg in 2004 was the greatest margin of victory in the teams' rivalry, but HSV won the most recent fixture by a 4-0 margin.
TEAM NEWS:
Werder Bremen

After making a brief outing in a friendly match over last weekend, Tim Borowski has returned to the injured list for Bremen, and will join Denni Avdic, Sebastian Boenisch, Mikael Silvestre, and Onur Ayik among the absentees. Lukas Schmitz is expected to recover from a knock in time to play, but should he fail to fully recover, Aleksandar Ignjovski will deputise at left-back.

Hamburg
With his side having taken just one point from the first four Bundesliga matches of the season, Michael Oenning is expected to make many changes to his team, particularly in midfield. Jacopo Sala, Tolgay-Ali Arslan and Miroslav Stepanek are all back in training but not yet fit enough to play. Also absent on Saturday will be suspended newcomer Ivo Ilicevic
, and injured duo Dennis Diekmeier and Heung-Min Son.


Bari Koln - Nurnberg Roma

  • Koln have failed to finish in the top half of the Bundesliga since they placed fourth in 1992.
  • The last four head-to-head matches have been split by the two teams, with Koln having a slight 5-4 advantage on aggregate.