Bundesliga Round 9 Preview

Friday SEPTEMBER 15	KO	Saturday SEPTEMBER 16	KO
Werder Bremen - Dortmund	2030	Mainz - Augsburg	1530
		Monchengladbach - Bayer Leverkusen	1530
		Bayern Munich - Hertha Berlin	1530
		Wolfsburg - Nurnberg	1530
		Stuttgart - Hoffenheim	1530
		Schalke - Kaiserslautern	1830
		Sunday SEPTEMBER 17	KO
		Freiburg - Hamburg	1530
all kick-off in CET		Koln - Hannover	1730

Werder Bremen

vs

Dortmund

Champions League hopefuls visit high-flying northerners, who have put last season's woes behind them, and are now just three points behind leaders Bayern.

Mainz

vs

Augsburg

PROBABLE LINE-UPS
H. Muller Pospech, Bungert, Noveski, Fathi Kirchhoff Risse, Baumgartlinger, Ivanschitz, N. Muller Choupo-Moting		Jentzsch Hosogai, Mohrle, Sankoh, Bellinghausen Baier, Callsen-Bracker Werner, Davids Rafael, Molders
TEAM NEWS
Mainz are winless in their last six games (two draws, four defeats). Thomas Tuchel's side have dropped a league-high 13 points from winning positions this season. The last meeting between these two sides, a 1-1 draw, came more than two years ago in the 2. Bundesliga.		Augsburg have not won a league away game in six months. The Bavarians have only lost one of the last seven matches against Mainz (three wins, three draws). FCA are yet to win a game in their first-ever adventure in the German top flight (four draws, four defeats).

Monchengladbach

vs

Bayer Leverkusen

PROBABLE LINE-UPS
Ter Stegen Jantschke, Stranzl, Dante, Daems Marx, Neustadter Herrmann, Reus, Arango Bobadilla		Leno Balitsch, Reinartz, Toprak, Kadlec Bender, Ballack Castro, Kiessling, Schurrle Derdiyok
TEAM NEWS
Belgian striker Igor de Camargo will miss out on the match due to an ankle injury sustained during the International break. Gladbach have gone 19 games without a home win over Leverkusen. Lucien Favre's side are unbeaten in seven Bundesliga games at Borussia Park (six wins, one draw).		Renato Augusto is set for a lengthy lay-off after undergoing a knee operation earlier in the week. Leverkusen have only lost one BL game against Gladbach (14 wins, 12 draws) in the last 17 years. Bayer have been held scoreless in three of their eight league games this season.

Bayern Munich

vs

Hertha Berlin

Manuel Neuer will hope to extend his clean sheets record as the league leaders host promoted side Hertha Berlin in what will be a homecoming for ex-Bayern trio Christian Lell, Thomas Kraft and Andreas Ottl. A full preview of this fixture can be found here.

Wolfsburg

vs

Nurnberg

PROBABLE LINE-UPS
Benaglio Hasebe, Madlung, Chris, Schafer Trasch, Josue Ochs, Mandzukic, Dejagah Lakic		Stephan Chandler, Wollscheid, Klose, Plattenhardt Simons Mak, Feulner, Hegeler, Esswein Pekhart
TEAM NEWS
With Sotirios Kyrgiakos suspended,Chris is expected to deputise in defence. None of Wolfsburg's last 12 Bundesliga games has ended in a draw. Only against Bayern have Wolfsburg won fewer points per game on average than against FCN.		Nurnberg have lost just one of their last seven Bundesliga matches against Wolfsburg (two draws, four wins). The injury-hit Bavarians will miss key first-team regulars Javier Pinola and Raphael Schafer. None of the 18 Bundesliga meetings between these two sides has ended in a goalless draw.

Stuttgart

vs

Hoffenheim

PROBABLE LINE-UPS
Ulreich Boulahrouz, Tasci, Maza, Boka Kvist, Hajnal Harnik, Okazaki Cacau, Pogrebnyak		Starke Braafheid, Compper, Vorsah, Beck Rudy, Williams Obasi, Sigurdsson, Babel Firmino
TEAM NEWS
Shinji Okazaki's availability from the start is in question; the Japanese forward may be replaced by Timo Gebhart. None of Stuttgart's last 64 Bundesliga matches has ended in a goalless draw. Cacau has been involved in a goal in each of his five Bundesliga games against Hoffenheim (four goals, one assist).		Hoffenheim have yet to beat Stuttgart in their competitive history (four draws, three defeats). Holger Stanislawski's men have failed to score in their last two Bundesliga games. Seven of Hoffenheim's last eight goals in the Bundesliga have been scored by Ryan Babel (three) and Roberto Firmino (four).

Schalke

vs

Kaiserslautern

PROBABLE LINE-UPS
Fahrmann Hoger, Howedes, Metzelder, Fuchs Papadopoulos, Holtby Farfan, Raul, Jurado Huntelaar		Trapp Dick, Amedick, Rodnei, Jessen Kirch, Petsos Sukuta-Pasu, Tiffert Kouemaha, Shechter
TEAM NEWS
Klaas-Jan Huntelaar has scored 15 goals in 14 games in all competitions, more than any other Bundesliga player. Only Bayern (21) have scored more goals than Schalke (17) this season. A year ago, S04 were handed a 5-0 defeat - their worst of the season - away to Kaiserslautern.		Kaiserslautern have only won one out of the possible 12 points on the road this campaign. FCK have scored a league-low five goals thus far. Lautern have failed to find the net in four of their last five BL games.

Freiburg

vs

Hamburg

PROBABLE LINE-UPS
Baumann Hinkel, Barth, Krmas, Butscher Flum, Schuster Putsila, Makiadi, Abdessadki Cisse		Drobny Westermann, Bruma, Rajkovic, Aogo Tesche, Rincon Lam, Tore Guerrero, Petric
TEAM NEWS
Mensur Mujdza picked up a fracture in his foot during the international break and is set for a lengthy injury lay-off. SC are unbeaten in six Bundesliga matches on home soil against Hamburg (two wins, four draws). Only Freiburg (22) have conceded more goals than Hamburg this season (20).		Thorsten Fink was named new coach at HSV on Thursday, replacing Michael Oenning. Hamburg have now gone 12 games without a clean sheet. HSV have won just one of their last 15 Bundesliga games (six draws, eight defeats).

Koln

vs

Hannover

PROBABLE LINE-UPS
Rensing Brecko, McKenna, Sereno, Eichner Riether, Jajalo Chihi, Peszko Novakovic, Podolski		Zieler Cherundolo, Haggui, Pogatetz, Schulz Schmiedebach, Pinto Stindl, Schlaudraff, Pander Abdellaoue
TEAM NEWS
Lukas Podolski has been directly involved in five of Koln's last six Bundesliga goals. FC have only failed to score in one of their last 15 league home games. Last season, "Effzeh" enjoyed their biggest win of the campaign against 96, a 4-0 home win.		Artur Sobiech remains suspended following his red card against Dortmund in September. Mohamed Abdellaoue has netted 10 goals in 10 games in all competitions this season. None of the last 14 league meetings between these sides has ended in a draw.