With Bayern Munich setting a scorching pace at the start of the new season, the chasing pack will be hoping for a Bavarian slip-up this weekend against Hamburg. With Stuttgart and Werder securing their first wins last week and Schalke looking impressive, the title challengers need HSV to do them a favour on Sunday.
Schalke cannot afford to fall any further behind the leaders and face a tough home game on Friday against Bayer Leverkusen. Despite creating numerous chances last time out against Wolfsburg, the Königsblauen were held to a 1-1 draw which should be seen as two points dropped rather than a point gained.
Captain Marcelo Bordon is a doubt after suffering a knee injury in training and he will be a big miss. Levan Kobiashvilli looks set to return after suffering a knock in Georgia’s international with Luxembourg last week.
Leverkusen, who inflicted a 1-0 defeat on Schalke last season at the Veltins Arena, will look to continue their recent improvement. Last week saw Michael Skibbe’s side produce their most fluent display of the season to beat Karlsruher 3-0, having lost to Hamburg the previous week.
Werder Bremen, after their Champions League win in Croatia, welcome Eintracht Frankfurt to the Weser Stadion. Trainer Thomas Schaaf said he noticed an improvement in last weekend’s win over Nürnberg, but the team still look a long way off the side that took the first half of last season by storm. Dusko Tosic looks set for his debut, after Christian Schulz announced that the Champions League tie with Zagreb was his last for Bremen.
Frankfurt on the other hand have started the season very positively with two wins and a draw. However the trip to the Weser Stadion should prove to be their toughest test so far. They will be boosted by memories of last season’s corresponding fixture. A 2-1 win on the penultimate weekend meant they went into the last game of the season with their Bundesliga future secure.
Two sides who have made a mixed start to the season meet in the capital. Hertha Berlin, who have beaten Stuttgart but lost their other two games take on Felix Magath’s Wolfsburg. Brazilian striker André Lima has arrived at the Olympiastadion and is set to make his Bundesliga debut. Lucien Favre will be looking for a repeat of their home performance against Stuttgart, which saw them fire in three goals to secure a 3-1 win.
Felix Magath’s rebuilding job at Wolfsburg is slowly taking shape and he will take heart from the point gained against Schalke last Sunday. New signing Josué is suspended following his red card last time out.
Unbeaten Bochum under the guidance of Marcel Koller take to the road to face Hannover. VfL have won two of their opening games and are looking dangerous going forward. New signing Stanislav Sestak along with Tommy Bechmann have hit five goals already between them.
Hannover were the latest Bayern victims last weekend and were lucky to concede only three goals in the end. If they are to improve on last season’s 11th place finish, then they will have to start securing three points in their home games against teams like Bochum.
Another unbeaten side and the current surprise team in the Bundesliga, Bielefeld, travel to newly promoted Duisburg looking to prolong their stay at the top end of the table. Arminia currently lie second in the table with seven points from three games and although trainer Ernst Middendorp knows they will probably not stay there, the club are enjoying themselves. Another three points against newly promoted Duisburg is not beyond them.
The Zebras have been unable to build on their opening weekend win over Dortmund and have lost their last two games. Rudi Bommer will want to arrest this slide with a result on Saturday.
Two sides in need of points and confidence face each other at the Stadion der Freundschaft. Both Energie Cottbus and Nürnberg can consider last season a success. As a newly promoted side Cottbus acquitted themselves well and finished a respectable 13th. Hans Meyer’s Nürnberg finished 6th and capped the season by winning the German Cup. However both sides have started poorly this term.
Cottbus have yet to win this season and have scored only once. ‘Der Klub’ have also started slowly with trainer Meyer predicting a difficult season if his side do not buck their ideas up soon. Whether either side has anything to smile about on Saturday remains to be seen.
Hansa Rostock, currently bottom with no points take on Borussia Dortmund at the DKB Arena. The Ostseestädter had a baptism against Bayern in their first game of the season, and have not looked like winning their last two games either. They will have to find their feet fast and start putting some points on the board if they are to avoid an immediate return to the second division. The season is still in its early stages, but the signs are ominous for Frank Pagelsdorf.
Thomas Doll’s Dortmund side finally put in a performance to be proud of last week and if they can repeat this, the Hansa defence will be in for a busy afternoon.
Bayern fans have to wait until Sunday to see whether their team can make it four wins on the trot. Hamburg host the Bavarians and will look for a repeat of the result the last time the two teams met. At the back end of last season, Rafael van der Vaart inspired HSV to a 2-0 victory at the Allianz Arena. The Bayern side they meet on Sunday however is massively different from the one that limped along at the end of the last campaign and failed to qualify for the Champions League.
Ottmar Hitzfeld has injury worries over Luca Toni and Franck Ribéry and their selection remains in doubt. Good news however is the return of Lukas Podolski, who will definitely be in the squad and who should see some action.
Before the season started, many pundits saw weeks two, four, and five as the big tests for Bayern. They blew Werder Bremen away in Week 2, so Hamburg knows what to expect. If Bayern can take the three points on Sunday, their confidence will be sky high going into next weeks clash with Schalke.
The weekend’s final game sees Karlsruher welcome reigning champions Stuttgart to the Wildparkstadion. This will be the first local derby between the Baden-Württemberg neighbours in nine years as KSC have been languishing in the second division.
The situation is slowly improving for Stuttgart having made a slow start to the defence of their title. Mario Gomez made a goal scoring return from injury last weekend as the Swabians secured their first win of the season. Another three points in the derby and Armin Veh will be a much happier man.
KSC are in a similar position to Duisburg, having won their first game before going down to two defeats in a row.
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