Hamburg – Eintracht Frankfurt
The second half of the season began well for Hamburg, who edged Schalke to earn three points in Gelsenkirchen. The Rothosen are a bit short of personnel, especially in central defence, but will take confidence into Round 19. As he makes his preparations, coach Armin Veh will have to manage without David Jarolim (suspended), Heung-Min Son (international duty), Joris Mathijsen, Marcell Jansen, Dennis Diekmeier, Collin Benjamin, Romeo Castelen and Miroslav Stepanek (all injured).
Frankfurt had a false start to their spring campaign as the Adler took a 3-0 pummeling at home against Hannover. Michael Skibbe’s men will hope to rebound, but have a tough task on the horizon in Hamburg. Ahead of the match, Skibbe has ruled out suspended midfielder Pirmin Schwegler, as well as casualties Chris, Maik Franz, Marco Russ, Aleksandr Vasoski, Zlatan Bajramovic, Georgios Tzavellas and Kevin Kraus.
Freiburg – Nuernberg
Freiburg equalized twice to earn a 2-2 draw with St Pauli in a match the southwestern club will be disappointed not to have won. They face a difficult spell now that Bundesliga scoring leader Papiss Cisse has sustained an injury that will keep him out for two to three weeks. To make matters worse, Heiko Butscher, Kisho Yano, Yacine Abdessadki, Nicolas Hoefer, Jonathan Jaeger, Stefan Reisinger, Oemer Toprak, Simon Pouplin, Pavel Krmas, Tommy Bechmann, Julian Schuster and Daniel Williams have also been ruled out of the match and will have to watch from the stands.
Nuernberg slumped to a disappointing loss to Gladbach in their most recent match, in which the Bavarians were completely dominant, but struggled to put efforts on goal and had a penalty saved. Just six points ahead of the drop, they will look to rebound against Freiburg, but will have to manage without Per Nilsson, Mike Frantz, Ikay Guendogan and Albert Bunjaku.
Bayern Munich – Kaiserslautern
Bayern missed out on several chances to lock up three points, and conceded a late equaliser to Wolfsburg in their first match of the spring. The Bavarians have given up on first place, but will aim for as many wins in the remaining 16 games as possible. Franck Ribery will join injured team-mates Ivica Olic and Toni Kroos in the stands, but Arjen Robben is fit once more, and could play for the full 90 minutes is necessary.
Kaiserslautern came back from a goal behind while a man down, and managed to earn a 1-1 draw with Koeln in Round 19. The Red Devils are still just six points clear of the relegation zone, and will be keen to hold onto at least a point against Bayern Srdjan Lakic is suspended following his sending off last week, and Jan Simunek, Stiven Rivic and Iliyan Mitsanski are also ruled out of Saturday’s match with injuries.
Mainz – Wolfsburg
Mainz played well in their Rueckrunde opener, but failed to score and were undone by ruthlessly efficient Stuttgart substitute Martin Harnik. The Oh Fives have now slipped to third in the Bundesliga table, and are in danger of missing out on a European berth. Lewis Holtby has recovered from the concussion he sustained last week, but Bo Svensson (knee) will miss out on Saturday’s match.
Wolfsburg put up a spirited fight against Bayern in their recent match, and managed to reverse an early deficit at the death as Sascha Riether levelled. Die Woelfe have drawn seven consecutive matches and will hope to earn their fifth win of the season as they head to Mainz. Makoto Hasebe remains away on international duty, and Makoto Hasebe (international duty) and Caiuby (suspended) will have to miss out on the match.
Borussia Dortmund – Stuttgart
Dortmund took a huge step towards the Bundesliga title with Friday’s 3-1 win away to Leverkusen. The Ruhr side did not even slightly appear to miss Shinji Kagawa, who is on international duty with Japan. It appears to be full steam ahead for BVB, who will have a nearly full first team squad, with the exceptions of Kagawa, as well as injured duo Sven Bender, Patrick Owomoyela and Sebastian Kehl.
Stuttgart kicked off their spring campaign with a win that saw the Swabians edge closer to the safety of 15th place. Their next opponents will be a step up from Mainz, their last, but Bruno Labbadia will attempt to steer his side to at least a draw against the league leaders. Stuttgart will be missing Cacau, Ciprian Marica, Khalid Boulahrouz, Stefano Celozzi, Johan Audel and Mamadou Bah, who are unfit.
Hannover – Schalke
Hannover extended their incredible run of form with a 3-0 win away to Frankfurt last Saturday, a result that saw the Roten move second in the Bundesliga table. His team having all but mathematically secured a spot in the 2011-12 Bundesliga campaign, coach Mirko Slomka has even targeted a Champions League berth. Their match against Schalke will be a tough one, and will be made all the more difficult in the absence of Sergio Pinto, DaMarcus Beasley, Carlitos, Leon Andreasen and Markus Miller.
Felix Magath had hoped for a strong start to Schalke’s spring campaign, but the coach was disappointed to see his side struggle in attack and lose 1-0 to Hamburg in their opener. The Champions League hopefuls remain in mid-table, and will need to improve drastically in order to quality for a spot in Europe. Atsuto Uchida will miss out on the action due to his participation in the Asian Cup, and Tim Hoogland, and Levan Kenia have been ruled out due to injuries.
Koeln – Werder Bremen
Koeln saw an early, and somewhat fortunate, lead evaporate last week as they eventually were held to a draw by Kaiserslautern. The Geissboecke are still in 16th place, but could exit the relegation zone with a win against Bremen. Youssef Mohamed, Mato Jajalo, Wilifred Sanou, Adi Chihi, Christopher Schorch, Petit and Tomoaki Makino have been ruled out of Saturday’s match due to injuries.
Torsten Frings’ last-minute screamer saw Bremen beat Hoffenheim in Round 19, a result that snapped a two-game losing skid. A new-look Hanseaten side will look to revitalise their campaign in the upcoming weeks, but will face stiff opposition in Koeln on Saturday. Wesley, Naldo, and Sebastian Boenisch remain unfit, and will be joined by Janiel Jensen, Tim Borowski (both injured) and Sebastian Proedl (suspended) in the stands.
Borussia Moenchengladbach – Bayer Leverkusen
Revamped with a new-look central defence, Gladbach kept a rare clean sheet en route to victory over Nuernberg last week. The Fohlen remain dead last in the Bundesliga table, but with a few more wins, they could yet avoid relegation. As he prepares for Leverkusen’s challenge, coach Michael Frontzeck is making plans without Roel Brouwers (injured), Raul Bobadilla (suspended), and unselected trio Logan Bailly, Christian Dorda and Marcel Meeuwis.
Leverkusen saw their last glimmer of hope for a title all but evaporate on Friday as they lost 3-1 at home to leaders Dortmund. Die Werkself are 13 points off the pace of the leaders, but could still qualify directly for the Champions League with a second placed finish in May. As they face off against Gladbach, Jupp Heynckes’ men will be short of Manuel Friedrich (suspended), as well as Lars Bender, Tranquillo Barnetta and Benedikt Fernandez, who are injured.
Hoffenheim – St Pauli
Hoffenheim were denied a point at the death last week as they lost 2-1 to Bremen. Sinsheim outfit will have to have a bit more potency in attack as they host St Pauli. Demba Ba (in England), Chinedu Obasi and Manuel Gulde (both injured) have been ruled out.
St Pauli nearly beat Freiburg last week, but twice saw their lead vanish. The Hamburg-based club will need to pull off some upsets this spring in order to avoid relegation, but could yet manage a point or more against an inconsistent Hoffenheim. Holger Stanislawski has ruled out Marius Ebbers, Fabio Morena and Florian Lechner.
