The Bundesliga returns at the weekend following the international break with the chasing pack looking to keep pace with top team Bayern Munich. Werder Bremen and Schalke will need to pick up wins if they are to close the gap at the top.
The opening match of Round 10 in the Bundesliga takes place on Friday night with bottom side
Energie Cottbus travelling to third from bottom
Duisburg. New Cottbus trainer Bojan Prasnikar is looking for his side’s first win of the season, but things won’t be easy at the MSV-Arena. Two draws in his first two matches in charge have steadied the ship, but Energie will have to start winning if they are to climb off the bottom. Prasnikar is likely to stick with the same eleven that secured a point last time out against Hertha Berlin.
Brazilian Ailton is also likely to retain his starting role for Duisburg after his goal scoring debut against Werder Bremen. Rudi Bommer has a number of defensive worries ahead of the bottom of the table clash. New signing Roque Junior will not be involved, and with Fernando and Filipescu out injured and Caceres and Georgiev suspended, Bommer may turn to amateur players Georges N´Doum and Mathias Tietz. This will be the first meeting between the two sides in the Bundesliga.
Leaders
Bayern Munich face an away trip to
Bochum. The Bavarians start the weekend with a five point lead at the top of the Bundesliga and will be hoping that their numerous international players show no ill effects of their midweek outings. Ottmar Hitzfeld may have Miroslav Klose available again after injury and could see the dream pairing of Toni and Klose reunited if both players prove their fitness. Martin Demichelis is a doubt after returning from international duty with Argentina with a back problem.
Bochum will be looking to end a poor run of results which has seen them slip down into 14th place. Marcell Koller only has Christoph Dabrowski and Martin Meichelbeck out injured.
Third placed
Werder Bremen take on
Hertha Berlin at the Weser Stadion hoping for another three points. After a somewhat slow start, Werder have found their feet and form in recent games and look to be one of the teams capable of making a serious challenge to Bayern’s early season dominance. A win on Saturday would make it three league wins in a row for Thomas Schaaf’s side. The trainer, who has just signed an extension to his contract, is expected to have Boubacar Sanogo, Tim Borowski, and Tim Wiese back after injuries.
The visitors find themselves in a mid-table grey zone where they could go one of two ways. A loss at Werder would see them moving in the wrong direction towards the bottom of the table, whereas three points would take them nearer to the top five. Trainer Lucien Favre will be looking for a little more consistency from his team in the coming matches- starting with Werder on Saturday.
Patrick Ebert will return to the starting XI, while Solomon Okoronkwo is challenging André Lima for the second striking berth behind Marko Pantelic.
Mirko Slomka’s
Schalke side travel to the north coast to play
Hansa Rostock. Even as the away side the Königsblauen should start as favourites in a game they need to win if they are to keep up their Bundesliga challenge. Up until their recent defeat to Karlsruher, Schalke had won four league games in a row and were looking really ominous. Everybody involved with the club will be hoping for an immediate return to that form. It looks as if Christian Pander will still not be available so Slomka will turn to either Dario Rodriguez or Benedikt Höwedes.
Frank Pagelsdorf also saw a winning streak brought to an end last time out as Wolfsburg ended their three game winning run. The visit of last season’s runners up Schalke is a big challenge for the Ostseestädter. Currently lying in 15th, one place above the drop-zone, they can ill afford to be dropping too many points at home this season. The trainer is hoping that veteran midfielder Stefan Beinlich will be given the green light to play following a knee injury.
A tasty looking tie is in prospect at the Bay-Arena as
Leverkusen entertain
Borussia Dortmund. Michael Skibbe’s side have lost their last two league games, after a run of four wins, so will want to get back to winning ways quickly. Tranquillo Barnetta has returned injured from Switzerland’s midweek friendly with the USA, and joins Bernd Schneider and Carsten Ramelow on the injury list. With Arturo Vidal only expected to land back from Chile on Friday afternoon, his place in the side may be given to Ricardo Faty.
Dortmund trainer Thomas Doll is planning on having both Philipp Degen and Mladen Petric back in the starting line-up for the Bundesliga match. Christian Wörns is suspended so Robert Kovac will come into the centre of Dortmund’s defence.
Hamburg welcome last season’s champions
Stuttgart. The Hanseaten currently find themselves eight places and seven above VfB in the table and will be looking to make the most of home advantage to heap more misery on an underperforming VfB. They will have to do that however without their influential captain Rafael van der Vaart who misses out with a thigh injury. The Dutch midfielder was forced off during his countries Euro 2008 qualifier with Slovenia. Also unavailable is Nigel de Jong, who has torn a hamstring in his thigh.
With successive league defeats to Hannover and Hansa Rostock, Armin Veh can hardly afford another loss. Stuttgart have particular problems down their left-hand side with Arthur Boka (knee ligament tear), Antonio da Silva (calf problem) and Thomas Hitzlsperger all unavailable. With both Fernando Meira and Mathieu Delpierre out, either Gledson or amateur player David Pisot will come in.
Nürnberg will be looking to finally get their season going on Saturday after the international break, but it won’t be easy against
Eintracht Frankfurt. Hans Meyer has seen his side go from Cup Winners to possible relegation candidates in a matter of months. A solitary victory in their opening nine fixtures sees them second from bottom with just six points. A thigh injury to Andreas Wolf means that captain Thomas Galasek will fall back into the back four. Frankfurt on the other hand, are enjoying one of their best starts to a Bundesliga season for many years. Currently seventh, the Adler could climb as high as second with a win against ‘der Klub’.
Sunday sees second place
Karlsruher looking to continue their super start to the season with a home game against
Bielefeld. The newly promoted side have already achieved six wins this season- a feat only bettered by Bayern Munich. It seems likely that Edmund Becker will keep faith with the team that ended Schalke’s unbeaten run last time out. Bielefeld’s season has floundered in recent games with four consecutive defeats. The form guide suggests a home win and a continuation of the fantastic Karlsruher story.
The final match of the weekend sees
Hannover host
Wolfsburg at the AWD Arena. The international break came at the wrong time for Hannover as they would have preferred to have built upon their great win over Stuttgart, which was their third on the bounce. Felix Magath’s Wolfsburg secured their first home win last time out, and will be looking to grab an away win which would give them valuable points in their mid-table position.
Goal.com - Bundesliga - Bundesliga Weekend Preview: Round 10