Arminia Bielefeld – Karlsruher
The Friday evening match takes place at the Schüco Arena with Arminia Bielefeld hosting Karlsruher. The ‘Arminen’ and KSC currently occupy 13th and 14th places respectively so three points would go along way to lifting them clear of the relegation zone. Bielefeld have only won once this season (at home to Köln) so will be looking for a second home win on Friday.
Trainer Michael Frontzeck is likely to return to a 4-3-3 formation with Halfar probably coming into the starting XI for the injured Kirch.
After an opening weekend win over Bochum, Edmund Becker’s Karlsruher then lost three in a row, but did secure a valuable win against Wolfsburg last week. Regular goalkeeper Markus Miller is injured so Kornetzky will deputise, while Joshua Kennedy is set to return in attack in place of Christian Timm.
Bayern Munich – VfL Bochum
The current Bundesliga table sees reigning champions and this season’s favourites Bayern Munich down in unfamiliar territory in ninth. Two successive losses in the league to Werder Bremen and Hannover have caused a few rumblings at the Allianz Arena. A good performance in midweek in the Champions League against Lyon will have set them up nicely for three points against Bochum.
Tim Borowski and Lukas Podolski could be given their chance, but mystery surrounds the knee injury of Daniel van Buyten. Bochum really have nothing to lose this weekend with nobody expecting them to win.
If they do get something from the game then they will be delighted. Key defender Yahia is suspended, while midfielder Zdebel is injured.span class="fullpost">
VfB Stuttgart – Werder Bremen
The most attractive match-up of the weekend sees Stuttgart hosting Werder Bremen at the Mercedes Benz Arena. Stuttgart didn’t look all that impressive in midweek in the Uefa Cup and were very close to crashing out at the hands of Cherno More Varna. Only a late 94th minute goal from Mario Gomez saved them.
A much better performance will be needed against an in-form Werder side. Boulahrouz, Bastürk and Pardo are still on the sidelines injured and it remains to be seen whether any players have picked up knocks from Thursday’s European match.
Werder have hit five goals in each of their previous two Bundesliga games (v Bayern and Hoffenheim) and put in a fine performance against Inter in the Champions League on Wednesday securing a 1-1 draw. Per Mertesacker is suspended for Bremen following his sending off against Hoffenheim last weekend.
Bayer Leverkusen – Hertha Berlin
High scoring Bayer Leverkusen are at home to Hertha Berlin this weekend. The Werkself banged in another three last weekend against Bochum to take their total to 18 in just six games.
Unfortunately for Bruno Labbadia’s side they are not involved in European competition this season, but that does at least mean his squad will be fresher than Hertha’s, who were involved in the Uefa Cup in midweek. With Adler recovered from flu and Barnetta over a slight injury, the Bayer trainer will have strong squad to select from.
Hertha suffered a disappointing home defeat to East German rivals Energie Cottbus last weekend and could only draw 0-0 in midweek against St.Patrick’s, although they did go through on aggregate.
Hertha have a long injury list to contend with although star striker Marko Pantelic looks like he is winning his battle to be fit. There will also be a return to the Bay-Arena for former favourite Andrei Voronin.
Borussia Mönchengladbach – 1.FC Köln
The Derby match has taken on extra significance for these two sides with Gladbach struggling at the bottom and Köln also in need of points.
Jos Luhukay’s side will have long forgotten their impressive 3-2 win over Werder Bremen after a few losses have seen them sink to the foot of the table. The Bremen has been their only three point haul, with 5 losses in their other five games.
Fellow promoted side Köln grabbed an impressive win last Friday against Schalke and will be looking to build upon that at the Borussia Park on Saturday. Trainer Christoph Daum will in all likelihood keep faith with the team that played so well against Schalke.
1899 Hoffenheim – Eintracht Frankfurt
Surprise package Hoffenheim showed that they are going to be capable of more than holding their own in the top flight with a highly impressive performance against Werder Bremen.
They pushed Thomas Schaaf’s side all the way at the Weser Stadion and were very unlucky to go down to a 5-4 defeat. Vedad Ibisevic and Sejad Salihovic carried on their good starts to the season and will want repeat that at home to a struggling Frankfurt on Saturday.
Friedhelm Funkel’s Frankfurt side are now the only team yet to have won a match this season with just three draws on their account. They have played a game less, but nonetheless the Adler fans will be concerned that their side are languishing in the bottom three.
Schalke – Wolfsburg
An interesting encounter awaits on Sunday as Schalke host Wolfsburg at the Veltins Arena. Both sides have aspirations of a top three finish and Champions League football next year, but both sides suffered defeats last weekend.
The Königsblauen went down to a surprise 1-0 away defeat to Köln with a performance that never looked likely to get anything from the game. They were rather disappointing in midweek too with a 1-1 draw in the Uefa Cup at home to APOEL. Luckily a 4-1 win in the first leg saw them through.
Fabian Ernst is still serving his suspension, but otherwise Fred Rutten will have a full squad to choose from.
Felix Magath’s Wolfsburg also lost last weekend going down to a 2-1 away loss to Karlsruher. They too were involved in Uefa Cup in midweek and drew 1-1 against Romanian side Rapid Bucharest.
Borussia Dortmund – Hannover
Dortmund expended a lot of energy in the Uefa Cup in midweek Udinese but their fight back was in vain as the Italian side ultimately won on penalties. Their disappointment will have to pushed to one side as they take on Hannover at the Signal-Iduna Park.
Jürgen Klopp’s side have made a good start to the season and last season’s defensive frailties seem to have been sorted and the club currently sit fifth.
Hannover secured a very impressive win last week when they downed Bayern Munich thanks to a superb Szabolcs Huszti free kick. The injury and illness crisis that rocked the Niedersachsen club appears to be easing meaning they will go into the weekend’s clash with BVB with a stronger squad.
Energie Cottbus - Hamburg
The weekend action concludes with Energie Cottbus taking on league leaders Hamburg. The Lausitzer climbed off the bottom of the table with their win last weekend against Hertha Berlin and trainer Bojan Prasnikar will be looking to shock the Rothosen on Sunday.
Hamburg arrive back from their midweek trek to Romania where they secured an important win over Unirea Urziceni in the Uefa Cup. They may be top of the table, but there is still a lot of room for improvement from Martin Jol’s side.
The form of Mladen Petric is reason to be happy though with goals in his last three matches for HSV.
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