Bundesliga Weekend Preview: Round 6

Friday 26th September (all times local)

20:30  1 FC.Köln – Schalke

Saturday 27th September

15:30  Werder Bremen – 1899 Hoffenheim

15:30  Hamburg – Borussia Mönchengladbach

15:30  Hannover – Bayern Munich

15:30  Hertha Berlin – Energie Cottbus

15:30  VfL Bochum – Bayer Leverkusen

15:30  Borussia Dortmund – VfB Stuttgart

Sunday 28th September

17:00  Eintracht Frankfurt – Arminia Bielefeld

17:00  Karlsruher – VfL Wolfsburg

1 FC.Köln – Schalke

Köln held out for 74 minutes last weekend against Bielefeld before going down to a 2-0 defeat at the Schüco Arena.  That was their third loss in five games so trainer Christophe Daum will want to see at least a point against high-flying Schalke.

Daum may switch back to a 4-2-3-1 formation to combat Schalke and it could well be that Brecko starts at right back with Broich going into central midfield.  Striker Manesseh Ishiaku is still out injured while captain Umit Ozat is also still on the sidelines.

The Königsblauen continued their fine start to the season last weekend against Frankfurt even though they did make rather hard work of beating ten men after Chris was sent off for Eintracht in the first half.  An own goal from Ochs handed Fred Rutten’s side a 1-0 win and they will be looking to maintain their position at the top of the table with a win at the Rhein-Energie Stadion against Köln.

Fabian Ernst is suspended following his red card against Dortmund, but it could be that Vicente Sanchez keeps his place on the left after an impressive display in their midweek Cup win over Hannover.  Manuel Neuer is also a potential to return in goal.

Werder Bremen – 1899 Hoffenheim

Werder fans are on cloud nine after their 5-2 thrashing of Bayern Munich last weekend and they will want to se another three points gained against Hoffenheim.  Beating Bayern will count for less if they don’t follow it up with another win against the newly promoted minnows.

Trainer Thomas Schaaf  must decide whether to keep faith with the team that blitzed Bayern or freshen things up/ rest players ahead of next week’s Champions League tie with Inter.  Per Mertesacker has been suffering with flu and if he doesn’t make it, then Prödl would come in.  Petri Pasanen is an option in both full back positions.

This is the first time these two sides have met in the Bundesliga but Hoffenheim will go into the game in confident mood following their positive start to the season following their promotion from the second division.  Their bubble appeared to have burst a little when they lost 5-2 away to Leverkusen, but the responded superbly last weekend with a 4-1 win over Dortmund.

Ralf Rangnick should bring midfielder Luiz Gustavo back into the starting XI after he was rested for the midweek Cup tie, while Obasi is an option in attack.

Hamburg – Borussia Mönchengladbach

Hamburg lost for the first time last weekend to Wolfsburg and trainer Martin Jol will be hoping that it was temporary blip rather than a change in fortunes.  For the third successive league game, HSV went two goals down, but there was no way back against Felix Magath’s side and they went down to a 3-0 defeat.  They also faced a tough game in the Cup on Wednesday as Bochum made them work for their 2-0 win.

Martin Jol could opt to rotate his side with Olic and Alex Silva candidates to be given a rest.  That would see Bastian Reinhardt and midweek goal-hero Mladen Petric starting.

It’s been a bad week for Mönchengladbach with a 1-0 home defeat to Hertha Berlin in the Bundesliga last weekend followed up with 3-0 loss at the hands of Energie Cottbus in the German Cup on Tuesday.  Trainer Jos Luhukay will be hoping to see a performance like the on that beat Werder Bremen three weeks ago, knowing that a loss could see his side bottom of the table this weekend.

Personnel wise, Luhukay has question marks over the availability of Patrick Paauwe and Karim Matmour, but forward Rob Friend will be fit to start.

Hannover – Bayern Munich

Both Hannover and Bayern conceded five goals last weekend so both trainers will want to see a positive reaction from their sides when they clash at the AWD Arena on Saturday.

Hannover lost 5-0 at the Bay-Arena to a rampant Bayer Leverkusen side last Friday and although they were hit with injuries, trainer Dieter Hecking will not be pleased with the fact that his side have gone from beating Gladbach 5-1 to losing 5-0 themselves.

His injury and illness ravaged side will be seriously depleted against Bayern this weekend so it could be a case of damage limitation.

A wounded Bayern Munich side will provide a tough game as they look to make amends for their own humiliation last week.  The Bavarians hadn’t lost at home since April 2007, and to go down to such a heavy defeat will have really hurt Bayern’s ego so expect a reaction on Saturday.

Trainer Jürgen Klinsmann reverted to a back four for their German Cup win over Nürnberg and it remains to be seen which formation he sends out this weekend.  Lell could come in for Oddo, Podolski is an option to replace Klose, while either Kroos or Sosa could come in for Schweinsteiger.  Franck Ribéry could also feature for the first time in the league this season.

Hertha Berlin – Energie Cottbus

Hertha sit in mid table right now with just one defeat at the hands of Bayern Munich as a black mark against them.  They secured their second win of the season last weekend away to Gladbach and will want to quickly grab their third this weekend against Cottbus.  They were unluckily knocked out of the Cup in midweek in extra time by Borussia Dortmund.

Trainer Lucien Favre hopes to have both Gojko Kacar and Patrick Ebert available after the duo were rested for their Cup tie with BVB due to injury.  Josip Simunic has completed his ban following his red card and could also return.

Cottbus managed to score their first goal of the season last week against Bochum, but the fact that that they also conceded one means that they remain bottom of the table with just two points from five games.  An away trip to East German neighbours Hertha will be  a tricky task for Bojan Prasnikar’s side but points are a must if they are not to lose further ground at this early stage of the season.

They scored three more in the Cup in midweek so will be hopeful of providing more of a goal threat.  Prasnikar could well keep faith with the side that won through to the next round of the Cup.

VfL Bochum – Bayer Leverkusen

Bochum host high-scoring Bayer Leverkusen at the Rewirpower Stadion with the tough task of stopping in form Patrick Helmes.  Marcell Koller’s side have had a win, loss and a draw in their last three matches so will be looking for a more consistent run in the league in their forthcoming games.

Bayer put on a scintillating display last week against Hannover and will be wanting to continue that away to Bochum on Saturday.  There shouldn’t be any reason for trainer Labbadia to change the XI that did so well last Friday with Patrick Helmes looking to add to the six goals he has scored in the Werkself’s first five games

Borussia Dortmund – VfB Stuttgart

Fresh from their midweek Cup win, Dortmund are back in action at the Signal-Iduna Park this weekend as they take on VfB Stuttgart.  Their extra time Cup victory over Hertha Berlin would have gone some way to wipe away the disappointment of losing last week to Hoffenheim, but trainer Jürgen Klopp will be demanding three points in the league to properly make up for their 4-1 defeat.

Antonio Rukavina missed the Cup win with a muscle injury and remain doubtful for Saturday.  Also missing for BVB are Zidan, Hummels, Blaszczykowski, Owomoyela and Dede.

Stuttgart have won their last three matches in a row in league, Cup and Europe, which has taken them up to third in the table.  They kept up their recent good form in the derby against Karlsruher with a  3-1 win at the Mercedes-Benz Arena  last week and trainer Armin Veh will be demanding more of the same against Dortmund.

For VfB the trio of Pavel Pardo, Mathieu Delpierre and Yildiray Bastürk will in all likelihood miss out through injury.  Ciprian Marica could start ahead of Cacau to give the Brazilian a rest.

Eintracht Frankfurt – Arminia Bielefeld

On Sunday Eintracht Frankfurt entertain Arminia Bielefeld at the Commerzbank Arena looking for points as they seek to improve their lowly league position which currently has them sitting in 17th.  Friedhelm Funkel’s side have played a game less, but have still only taken two points from their four games thus far.  To make matters worse they were dumped out of the Cup in midweek after losing 2-1 to Hansa Rostock in extra time.

Funkel may be without Patrick Ochs after he was injured against Rostock.  Should he miss out, then either Steinhöfer or Mahdavika could feature.

Bielefeld’s 2-0 win over Köln last week will have given them confidence and they will be looking to follow that up with another good performance against Frankfurt on Sunday.  Michael Lamey is back in contention following his suspension, while both Rudiger Kauf and Artur Wichniarek should also start after injury lay-offs.

Karlsruher – VfL Wolfsburg

The weekend action is concluded with Karlsruher taking on Wolfsburg at the Wildparkstadion.  KSC trainer Edmund Becker will be keen for his side to gain some points to make up for the loss last weekend in the derby match with local rivals Stuttgart.  The Badener have now lost their last three league matches so the rot will have to stop on Sunday.

Maik Franz and Joshua Kennedy were both injured in their midweek Cup win over Kickers Offenbach so Stöll and Timm could be called in.

Felix Magath’s Wolfsburg find themselves in a rich vein of goal scoring form with ten goals in the last two games.  An impressive 3-0 win over Hamburg last weekend was followed up by a 7-0 demolition of Oberneuland in the Cup on Wednesday.

Magath could switch to a 4-2-3-1 formation meaning that one of the two strikers would be sacrificed and possibly Hasebe coming into midfield.

source: goal.com